Some neighbourhoods still without power after mass blackout

Electricity was slowly starting to return across the city of Buenos Aires, after massive power cuts caused chaos throughout yesterday and last night. Public transport services are running as normal today, however many traffic lights are still out of service.

“We are starting to fix the problems on the network, but it takes time, due to the high demand for power,” said Alejandra Martínez, a representative for the main electricity provider for the capital, Edesur.

A local television channel reported today that Paternal, Villa Crespo and Flores neighbourhoods were still without electricity.

“Some 450 million clients were left without power last night in the city and province area of Buenos Aires,” Edesur said last night.

The company representative explained in statements today that the power cuts could be put down to the extreme temperatures that currently affect the city, which yesterday hit highs of 36 degrees, as this caused electric consumption to duplicate, provoking the system to collapse.

Many neighbourhoods have been experiencing power cuts since the beginning of the week.

Yesterday’s mass power cut hit the city last night during rush hour causing the subway system to collapse, traffic lights and mobile phone services to switch off, causing chaos on the roads.