Confusion on the streets of Quito as traffic lights ceased working and the subway system ground to a halt

A nationwide electricity outage has struck Ecuador, leaving the nation of about 18 million in the dark, including the capital’s subway system, as authorities worked to repair faulty power lines, a senior official said.

“There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there’s no electricity at a national scale,” public works minister Roberto Luque said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Luque also serves as the country’s acting energy minister.

A Reuters witness said there was confusion on the streets of Quito, the capital, as traffic lights ceased working. Operations of Quito’s subway system have also ground to a halt.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.caEnglish
    81·
    5 months ago

    It takes more than just a faulty transmission line to take down an entire grid nation wide… There’s more to this story than they are letting on.

      • Today@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        5 months ago

        Definitely not going to defend ercot, but that was a very strong wind. Easy for me to say; i didn’t really lose power or trees. I did lose a litter box.

  • Substance_P@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    It sounds like “prepper” Roberto Luque is lucky enough to have a back-up generator and a starlink connection.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    A nationwide electricity outage has struck Ecuador, leaving the nation of about 18 million in the dark, including the capital’s subway system, as authorities worked to repair faulty power lines, a senior official said.

    “There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there’s no electricity at a national scale,” public works minister Roberto Luque said in a post on X on Wednesday.

    A Reuters witness said there was confusion on the streets of Quito, the capital, as traffic lights ceased working.

    Emilia Cevallos, a waitress in a restaurant north of the capital, Quito, said the blackout was surprising.

    In April, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared an energy emergency and announced planned electricity cuts.

    The disaster prompted Ecuador’s private OCP oil pipeline to suspend operations and declare force majeure.

    The original article contains 301 words, the summary contains 134 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!