Blackouts darken Brazil’s 2 largest cities

[jimmy olsen]

Those are not cities I'd like to be in during a blackout.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33844757/ns/world_news-americas/

Blackouts darken Brazil's 2 largest cities
Officials cite problems at the huge Itaipu hydroelectric dam

msnbc.com news services
updated 10:04 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2009
RIO DE JANEIRO - A massive power failure blacked out Brazil's two largest cities and other parts of Latin America's biggest nation Tuesday night, leaving millions of people in the dark after a huge hydroelectric dam suddenly went offline.

Paraguay was also affected when the Itaipu dam straddling the two nations' border stopped producing 17,000 megawatts of power, resulting in outages in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and at least several other big Brazilian cities, Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

The cause of the failure had not been determined, but Lobao said strong storms uprooted trees near the Itaipu dam just before it went offline and could be to blame. Rio was the hardest hit city, he said.

Lobao said the hydro plant at the dam itself was working, but there were problems with the power lines that carry electricity across Brazil. Brazil uses almost all of the energy produced by the dam, and Paraguay consumes the rest.

Brazil's official Agencia Brasil news agency said Tuesday's outage started about 10:20 p.m. (1220 GMT), snarling streets in Rio after traffic lights stopped working. Subway service was knocked out in both Rio and Sao Paulo, and G1 said Sao Paulo subway users were forced to abandon train cars.

In the city of Taguatinga near the national capital of Brasilia, a second division Brazilian league soccer game was halted after lights illuminating the field went dark. No power outages happened in Brasilia.


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Utility companies that provide electricity for Rio and Sao Paulo did not immediately offer explanations for why the power went off or when it would be restored, Agencia Brasil said.

Sao Paulo is South America's largest city, with 12 million residents. Rio has 6 million citizens. But the metropolitan area of both cities are much larger. Also affected was Belo Horizonte in central Brazil and the northeastern city of Recife.

The Itaipu dam is the world's second biggest hydroelectric producer, supplying 20 percent of Brazil's electricity. China's Three Gorges dam is the largest.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

[PRC]

60 Minutes on Sunday had a segment on cyber warfare and mentioned that Brazil had had power failures recently that were the result of foreign powers/hackers exploiting weaknesses in their networks.

[CountDeMoney]

60 Minutes on Sunday had a segment on cyber warfare and mentioned that Brazil had had power failures recently that were the result of foreign powers/hackers exploiting weaknesses in their networks.

Yup.  Very good piece, too.

We're so fucked.

[PRC]

Yup.  Very good piece, too.

We're so fucked.

And it doesn't have to be an enemy state conducting the attacks.  A simple scenario could be that the cities that had the failures take place could have housed food production facilities for Brazil's massive cattle industry crippling that industry for a time.  An Albertan cattle producing corp. could have executed the attacks in an attempt to get a third party buyer to "Buy Albertan" beef products as opposed to Brazilian.

[Viking]

How about those Olympics.

[HisMajestyBOB]

How about those Olympics.

That's what the torches are for.

[CountDeMoney]

How about those Olympics.

Well, when the power goes out, everybody's going to get to run the 1,000 meter.

[FunkMonk]

I blame Obama.

[Viking]

I blame Obama.

It can't have been him, he was off getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

[barkdreg]

Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

Best name for a Minister for Energy ever!

[jimmy olsen]

Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said.

Best name for a Minister for Energy ever!

Edison Tesla would be better.

[Caliga]

For some reason Edison is a very popular name down there.

I guess they enjoy naming their kids after badass Americans.  There were a couple of Brazilians around Marlborough named Jefferson.

[jimmy olsen]

For some reason Edison is a very popular name down there.

I guess they enjoy naming their kids after badass Americans.  There were a couple of Brazilians around Marlborough named Jefferson.

Edison is apparently really famous outside the US. I did an exercise where kids named someone who had changed the world for the better and told why and the only American listed was Edison, and he was named in several different classes.

[Caliga]

Tesla >>>>> Edison. 

[jimmy olsen]

Tesla >>>>> Edison. 

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