Country wide blackout ongoing in Italy

September 27, 2003 8:36 PM

Italy-wide blackout ongoingI'm right in the middle of a nation wide blackout. 2 hours without electricity so far, luckly sunrise is near. Guess now I know what they guys in U.S. East coast has felt. Link goes to italian language realtime news on event, for interested italians abroad.
posted by elpapacito (22 comments total)

Hey, man, I feel for you. I'm in Manhattan, and the blackout truly sucked (except for all the partying on the streets!).

You know, I actually appreciated being forced to deal with life without all the stupid gadgets and media and crap.

I hope you get "the juice" back soon!
posted by reality at 9:14 PM on September 27, 2003

6:18 AM, who'll notice?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:17 PM on September 27, 2003

I was trapped in an elevator in a Toronto hostel for two hours during the North American blackout. It was pretty fun, actually. Just me and my girlfriend. Umm, but not that kind of fun, unfortunately. The hostel people were quite nice; after an hour, once they realized the extent of the blackout, they decided to attempt to pry the doors open. They only got them open an inch or two, but that was enough for fresh air, which was fantastic. They also passed in energy bars, Bits 'n' Bites (think Canadian Chex Mix), and juice boxes. A regular party.
posted by UKnowForKids at 9:18 PM on September 27, 2003

Ah, how are you getting on the internet? A really good battery?
posted by oflinkey at 9:23 PM on September 27, 2003

i hope it's not too warm where you are...the heat is what made our blackout so annoying.

What's with all the blackouts lately?--the Northeast US and Canada, London, a Denmark/Sweden one, and now Italy
posted by amberglow at 9:27 PM on September 27, 2003

Maybe someone's practicing for a really big one?
posted by silusGROK at 9:39 PM on September 27, 2003

oh, they were having an all-night thing in Rome, too.
posted by amberglow at 9:45 PM on September 27, 2003

My power was only out for 2.5 days and I was about to tear my hair out. My friend's power is still out (10 days) and he still has no running water. Here's to bottled water, canned chicken salad, and triscuits! When a laptop and power inverter are your only methods to combat boredom (seriously - a person can only play so much scrabble), you'll find a newfound lust for dial-up internet!
posted by Hankins at 10:15 PM on September 27, 2003

The national grid authority said the blackout was caused by a malfunction of incoming electricity lines from abroad

damn subhuman furriners and their damn malfunctioning electricicles. see, this is what happens when you try to interbreed low class electricicles from abroad with god's chosen electricicles. you spoil the purity of the electron pool, next thing ya know theres blackouts and brownouts (riiiight, it's just a coincidence them being called that...)
posted by quonsar at 10:22 PM on September 27, 2003

I got it! it's Bush's fault! Unless every country in the world sends troops and money for Iraq, we'll be shutting off the power, country by country ; >
posted by amberglow at 10:25 PM on September 27, 2003

First the US August 14, then the UK on August 28th, and now Italy. The Internet conspiracy folks will probably
twist this up into a great yarn!
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:22 PM on September 27, 2003

I Blame This On Diane Lane...
posted by Dreamghost at 11:24 PM on September 27, 2003

next thing ya know theres blackouts and brownouts (riiiight, it's just a coincidence them being called that...)

Not to mention, quonsar, that the all-night celebration in Rome that amberglow mentioned is called "White Night".

So, what's up? Electricity back yet? One news report says that "By 7 a.m. local time (1 a.m. EDT) power was still out in the capital, and authorities had not yet announced an explanation." It's around 8:10 a.m. there now... Let us know what you can when you can, Mefi-Italy!
posted by taz at 12:10 AM on September 28, 2003

First the US August 14, then the UK on August 28th, and now Italy...

You forgot Denmark and Sweden earlier this week.
posted by chill at 2:03 AM on September 28, 2003

Electricity's back in Milan and most of the North, there are
apparently still problems in the South (power outages also affect water distribution)

Thousands of people stuck in Rome's subway (still functioning late at night because of La Notte Bianca event) had to be evacuated

Curiously, the isle of Sardinia has remained unaffacted by the black-out

Big trouble in airports (flights delayed and cancelled) and especially train stations (more than 30,000 train travelers affected). Hospitals managed to keep working using generators.

and yes, it's apparently France's fault



posted by matteo at 2:04 AM on September 28, 2003

so. how wide is 'italy wide'?
posted by quonsar at 2:56 AM on September 28, 2003

about the size of Arizona, q. Glad you're back up matteo...

Sort of screwy about the timing, though, really. Without the all-night festivities in Rome, I suppose the black-out would have been as minimal as possible, in terms of almost nobody stuck in office building with elevators, etc, less traffic trouble, etc. Does anyone know anything statistically about this many worldwide grid failures occurring so close to each other?
posted by taz at 3:09 AM on September 28, 2003

surely, someone has gone and angered Electronomo. tonight i shall appease Him by burning a wheat field and seven virgins.
posted by quonsar at 3:38 AM on September 28, 2003

It's easy to conspire about the power failures. The Scandinavian one was caused by a combination of factors - both cables to Germany and Poland were down for maintenance, while further north in Sweden storms (and trees) hit the powerlines. Suddenly there's heavy pressure on the system, and two units went offline.
posted by dabitch at 4:31 AM on September 28, 2003

quonsar: and where do you think you'll find seven virgins exactly ?

Power restored here after more or less 11 hours.
posted by elpapacito at 7:10 AM on September 28, 2003

quonsar: and where do you think you'll find seven virgins exactly ?

The membership of Slashdot would be a good place to start.
posted by SpecialK at 10:25 AM on September 28, 2003

But I think he is looking for female virgins.
posted by dg at 10:01 PM on September 28, 2003