Power outage leaves most of Chile in darkness for hours

Electricity providers across Chile scrambled to restore service Tuesday after a sweeping blackout plunged 90% of the country into darkness, stranding commuters, knocking cell service offline and paralyzing businesses and daily life.The scale of the power outage appeared to take authorities off guard.The government declared a state of emergency alongside a mandatory nighttime curfew that will last until 6 a.m.Wednesday.“Our first concern, and the reason for this announcement, is to ensure people’s safety,” Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said in announcing the exceptional measures.The ministry deployed thousands of soldiers across the country to help maintain order and enforce the curfew.Mobile phone services blinkered offline.The world’s largest copper mine suspended operations.People complained of water shortages as pumps running on electricity stopped working.Emergency generators helped hospitals and government offices continue operating.But the lights — and, on a hot summer night in the Southern Hemisphere, the air conditioning and fans that keep people cool — began to return in spurts seven hours after the electric failure first struck.Cheers rung out on the streets where lights flickered back on.At around 11 p.m., power was restored to around half of the 8 million affected households, said President Gabriel Boric.“What happened today is outrageous,” Boric said in a late-night televised address.

“It’s unacceptable that one or several companies impact the everyday life of millions of Chileans.”The National Electrical Coordinator, Chile’s grid operator, said a disruption had occurred in a high-voltage backbone transmission line that carries power from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to the capital of Santiago in the country’s central valley.The operator’s president, Juan Carlos Olmedo, said that the regional problem started a long-distance chain reaction of overloads and plant shutdowns until it became a giant blackout that hit 9...