Brazil blackouts hit up to 60M, spur Olympic fears | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Brazil blackouts hit up to 60M, spur Olympic fears
Bradley Brooks / Associated Press
Rio De Janeiro -- Brazil emerged Wednesday from a widespread power outage that plunged as many as 60 million people into darkness for hours, prompting security fears and concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Power went out for more than two hours in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and several other major cities after transmission problems knocked one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams offline. Airport operations were hindered and subways ground to a halt.
A group of muggers took advantage of the darkness to rob people en masse near Rio's Maracana stadium, which will host the Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies. But overall, police said, crime did not rise in Rio and fell in Sao Paulo during the outage.
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All of neighboring Paraguay also went dark, but for less than a half hour. A spokesman at Brazil's Energy Ministry said up to 60 million people -- nearly a third of the nation's population -- were affected by the blackout. He spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Man and I thought the north east black out of 03 was big news, this just boggles the mind so to speak, has this made national news outside of the detroit news online?
Brazil blackouts hit up to 60M, spur Olympic fears
Bradley Brooks / Associated Press
Rio De Janeiro -- Brazil emerged Wednesday from a widespread power outage that plunged as many as 60 million people into darkness for hours, prompting security fears and concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Power went out for more than two hours in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and several other major cities after transmission problems knocked one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams offline. Airport operations were hindered and subways ground to a halt.
A group of muggers took advantage of the darkness to rob people en masse near Rio's Maracana stadium, which will host the Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies. But overall, police said, crime did not rise in Rio and fell in Sao Paulo during the outage.
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All of neighboring Paraguay also went dark, but for less than a half hour. A spokesman at Brazil's Energy Ministry said up to 60 million people -- nearly a third of the nation's population -- were affected by the blackout. He spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Man and I thought the north east black out of 03 was big news, this just boggles the mind so to speak, has this made national news outside of the detroit news online?
