The power outage affected a total of eight Czech substations.
On July 4, the Czech Republic was hit by a massive blackout, affecting most of Prague and several other cities in the country. The lack of power supply led to the suspension of public transport, disruptions in the operation of infrastructure, and numerous incidents. For example, hundreds of people were trapped in stopped elevators.
This was reported by the Czech publication Denik.
According to the energy company Pražská energetika (PRE), the outages were caused by an accident at a substation in the Chodov area.
What is known at the moment
The power outage affected only eight substations .
The Prague metro has stopped completely, as have most tram and trolleybus lines. Traffic lights are not working, which complicates traffic.
Hundreds of people were trapped in elevators. “The number of elevator incidents will increase. We are dealing with backup sources,” said Radek Menzl, a spokesman for the fire and rescue service.
Shops and supermarkets are closed. Many ATMs and payment terminals have stopped working.
The emergency affected several districts of Prague, mainly on the right bank of the Vltava, including Vinohrady, Vršovice, Zábehlice, Krč, Chodov, Strižkov, Žižkov, as well as the city centre.
Power outages were also recorded in other cities – Mladá Boleslav, Ústí nad Labem, Hradec Králové, Teplice, Kolín, Pardubice, Česká Lípa, as well as in the Pardubice, Central Bohemian, Hradec Králové and Liberec regions.
Train traffic between Prague and Kolin, as well as between Kolin and Kutna Hora, has been suspended.
The blackout did not affect Prague airport.
Hospitals affected by the outage have started using backup generators. Some tests and non-urgent surgeries are being postponed.
What power engineers and rescuers say
“There was a failure in the V411 line (this is a high-voltage line in the Czech Republic. – Ed.), and then in the energy islands in the north and east of the Czech Republic. Part of the transmission system is de-energized, and this event also affected most of the substations of the transmission system,” the Czech transmission system operator ČEPS was told.
The country's fire and rescue service confirmed that it is registering a large number of power outages in Prague, Central, Northern and Eastern Bohemia.
According to the National Agency for Cybersecurity and Information Security, there was no cyberattack.
Due to the power outage, Interior Minister Vit Rakušan has put the Central Crisis Headquarters on alert. According to him, the extent of the outages is currently being determined.
