In Argentina there was a very extensive power outage caused by a fire that developed on Wednesday in some points of the national electricity infrastructure: the capital Buenos Aires, other large cities and large areas of the countryside were left without electricity for hours, wholly or partially. Schools have been closed, commercial activities halted and some public transport suspended.
It seems that the fire started in a countryside area in the afternoon, near the high voltage lines connected to the Atucha nuclear power plant, in the province of Buenos Aires, whose activities have been interrupted for safety. The damage to the network would have spread until it progressively affected the areas on the coast. The Argentine newspaper Clarín has estimated that about 40 percent of the Argentine territory has been left without electricity.
The power outage, which is not the first of its kind in Argentina, occurred at a time of very high temperatures, which exceeded 35 degrees in some areas of the country.