South American Grid Collapse

[angie_nrs]

Even though this was a relatively short term grid collapse (roughly 7 hours), this serves to the "Oh, that could never happen croud" a stark reality of what could happen. It took out power to tens of millions of people on Fathers Day. Apparently they still haven't figured out what caused it. I haven't heard a whole lot of media attention being put on this. Some speculate that it could have been a cyber attack. I haven't seen anywhere that panic ensued. Although, I'd be amazed if that didn't happen.

Argentina Isn’t Ruling Out a Cyberattack in Major Power Outage
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...r-failure-sweeps-across-argentina-and-uruguay

Argentina and Uruguay reel after massive power outage
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-latin-america-48652686?__twitter_impression=true

Crippling blackout hits tens of millions in South America
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-...out-electricity-across-argentina-and-uruguay/
......an exerpt from above......
"This is the biggest blackout in history, I don't remember anything like this in Uruguay," said Valentina Giménez, a resident of the capital, Montevideo. She said her biggest concern was that electricity be restored in time to watch the national team play in the Copa America football tournament Sunday evening.

Really? That's your big concern???? I'm sure there are many folks out there that are that stupid, but I'm not so sure that CBS (MSM) captured the majority of what people truly believe when something like this happens, especially if they're not prepared for it. I will bet that MANY people had a much different reaction that we're not hearing about. I know that if I were in that situation and the whole country (plus some) lost power I would be wondering if it would ever come back on and I wouldn't give a rats behind about a sporting event.

So either CBS (and other media) is sugar coating the reaction of the people OR the people really are that stupid. It seems to me that either of those things could very well be the case. But, I truly think that we are getting a sugar coated report of what really happened when the lights went out.

I haven't seen a lot of coverage of this event and the little bit I have seen showed absolutely NO panic, turmoil, confusion, etc. I find that highly unlikely considering the extent of the outage and the fact that nobody in charge seems to know what caused it. If they don't know now, they certainly didn't know then. And this didn't cause panic???? I wonder what those people who were unprepared are doing about it now. Are they finally awoke to the possiblity that it could happen again? Or, did they just stick their heads back in the sand?

Here could be our answers to the "what if this happend" question that we have asked so many times on this forum. But, without any believable reporting......will we ever know the true answer? I would be interested to hear if anyone knows anyone in this area and could give a true account of what really happened when the lights went out.

 

[Meerkat]

Maybe it was a drill? Plus it makes some big biz lots of money. People run out and spend like its no tomorrow.
We do need to replenish some candles and lamp oil.

 

[Caribou]

I've seen many power outages lasting from minutes to several days. Nobody freaked out. If you had a generator you fired that up and dug out extension cords. If not lanterns and candles were the order of the day. Power outages are a common occurrence so just a few hours shouldn't upset too many people. You probably don't know it is the whole country till the power comes back on.

 

[backlash]

Look at what happened in New York.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-northeast-blackout

Here are some other blackout in the world.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/57769/12-biggest-electrical-blackouts-history

This one is interesting.
3. CANADA'S GEOMAGNETIC STORM // MARCH 13, 1989
On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout lasting 12 hours—and it was all thanks to the sun.

Sometimes, the sun emits billion-ton clouds of ionized gas, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). On March 10, 1989, a CME "about the size of 36 Earths" and equivalent to "the energy of thousands of nuclear bombs exploding at the same time" escaped. On the 12th, the gas cloud crashed against Earth's magnetosphere and caused the Northern Lights to be seen as far south as Texas and Cuba.

Because of this celestial event, six million Quebec residents were thrust into darkness when the province's power grid lost power. Schools and businesses were forced to close during the 12 hour blackout, as well as the Montreal Metro and Dorval Airport.

 

[angie_nrs]

Look at what happened in New York.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-northeast-blackout

I remember the one in 2003. I didn't seem like it was that long ago.

I don't remember the one in 1989. I had other "more important" things to pay attention to. I was in the "ignorance is bliss" crowd back them.

Here's some more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major_power_outages

Perhaps folks are just conditioned not to give it much thought......to just view it as an inconvenience. I kinda wish I were wired that way, but instead of rainbows and butterflies, I see blue and red sirens!

If the apathy is real, then it means there will be a short period of time to shore things up. Although, I think it would be much smarter to keep on top of it at all times b/c you may never know when "it" would hit. Still for those stores that have a generator backup or will take cash without using a register, it would be an opportunity window to top off on fuel, fresh food, etc. If I could only get limited radio stations in my car or at home, it would be a big flag for me to buy as much as I could immediately b/c that would mean that the outage was widespread.

So, I wonder how long it would take for that apathy to turn to panic?

 

[Weedygarden]

Even for well prepared people, a grid down situation of any length of time will have an impact. You might be able to keep your refrigerator and freezer running. But everyone will conserve electrical use even if you have a generator. Many resources will become innaccessable (sp?).

 

[hiwall]

With poor economies in many countries the infrastructure often lacks required maintenance.

 

[SheepDog]

If you want to control a large population the power grid is an ideal weapon.
You could use it to punish those who rebel and reward those who follow your lead.
You could blame the outages on your enemies or poor management by locals and "work" hard at fixing the problem to gain more allies.
If you control the grid you control the exchange of information too.
This is happening in South America right now. Venezuela has been suffering from power outages but it rarely affects the capitol or the ones in charge. Do you think this is a lack of maintenance?
I think it is part of the plan to control the population.

 

[The Lazy L]

What caused their power failure?

 

[SheepDog]

They have a tyrant in control and he is in the middle of a revolt by the people. It doesn't take a big leap to say that the tyrant has shut down portions of the grid to aid in the population control.
Remember that six years ago Venezuela was a first world country second only the the USA. They have oil in the ground, a complete infrastructure and were a thriving country that turned to socialism. In 5 years it has all stopped. I am more than willing to point a finger at the ones in charge.