Latest news with #AlpesMaritimes
Sky News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
More than 200,000 homes and Cannes Film Festival hit with power cut as arson 'suspected' in double outage
More than 200,000 households were temporarily left without electricity in southern France after power cuts, which threatened to disrupt the Cannes Film Festival. Around 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes area lost power from around 10am on Saturday, officials said. Supplies were restored to all homes at around 3pm local time, on Saturday, hours before the festival's closing ceremony - which was unaffected. Arson is suspected after the outage, which followed an overnight fire at an electrical substation near the city, leading to a high-voltage power line falling. Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect for the area, pointed to "serious acts of damage to electrical infrastructures". He promised to use all means available to "identify, track down, arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators". A prefect is a high-ranking government official who represents the state in a French region. Authorities' suspicions were apparently confirmed on Sunday, when anarchists claimed responsibility for the outage in an anonymous statement reported by local outlet BFM, quoting public prosecutors in Grasse and Draguignan. In the statement posted by two anarchist groups, they said: "On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony and gala evening, we sabotaged the main electrical substation supplying the Cannes metropolitan area and cut down the 225 kV line coming from Nice." Events early on Saturday were affected, Cannes Film Festival organisers said, but the Palais des Festivals - the Croisette's main venue - coped by switching to an independent power supply. Organisers said in a statement: "All scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions." Train services were disrupted, along with some traffic lights, leading to jams and confusion, while screenings at the Cineum, one of the festival's satellite venues, were briefly suspended, organisers said. Some 45,000 homes were temporarily without electricity in nearby Nice and the neighbouring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer, energy supplier Enedis said, after the weekend's second power outage overnight on Saturday. Power was restored on Sunday morning, but the city's mayor, Christian Estrosi, put it down to "malicious acts". Mr Estrosi said power was "restored very quickly", at 6am, Franceinfo said on its website. He ordered all sensitive electrical infrastructure in the city to be placed under police protection. Nice's deputy mayor, Gaël Nofri, said "according to information provided by the firefighters, an access door to the transformer was forced".
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Suspected arson causes a second major power outage in south of France
Police direct traffic during an electricity outage in Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Photo by Lewis Joly/Invision/AP, File) NICE, France — A second major power outage hit southeastern France early Sunday, this time in the city of Nice, after a suspected arson damaged an electrical facility. Police currently have not established a link between the blackout that affected parts of Nice as well as nearby cities of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-du-Var, and a power outage on Saturday that disrupted the city of Cannes during the closing day of its renown film festival. The Nice blackout started around 2 a.m. and left some 45,000 households without electricity. The city's trams stopped and power was briefly cut to the Nice Côte d'Azur airport during its overnight closure hours. Power was fully restored by 5:30 a.m., according to the energy provider company Enedis. The Nice public prosecutor said a criminal investigation has been opened for 'organized arson.' On Saturday, two other installations in the Alpes Maritime department were damaged in what officials also suspected to be arson, temporarily cutting power to 160,000 homes, including events at the Cannes Film Festival. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi condemned Sunday's attack and said the city had filed a complaint. 'I strongly denounce these malicious acts targeting our country,' he said on X. He ordered all sensitive electrical infrastructure in the city to be placed under police protection. 'These actions can have serious consequences, particularly on hospitals,' Estrosi said at a press briefing on Sunday. 'As long as the perpetrators haven't been caught, we will remain on high alert.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Suspected arson causes a second major power outage in south of France
NICE, France (AP) — A second major power outage hit southeastern France early Sunday, this time in the city of Nice, after a suspected arson damaged an electrical facility. Police currently have not established a link between the blackout that affected parts of Nice as well as nearby cities of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-du-Var, and a power outage on Saturday that disrupted the city of Cannes during the closing day of its renown film festival. The Nice blackout started around 2 a.m. and left some 45,000 households without electricity. The city's trams stopped and power was briefly cut to the Nice Côte d'Azur airport during its overnight closure hours. Power was fully restored by 5:30 a.m., according to the energy provider company Enedis. The Nice public prosecutor said a criminal investigation has been opened for 'organized arson.' On Saturday, two other installations in the Alpes Maritime department were damaged in what officials also suspected to be arson, temporarily cutting power to 160,000 homes, including events at the Cannes Film Festival. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi condemned Sunday's attack and said the city had filed a complaint. 'I strongly denounce these malicious acts targeting our country,' he said on X. He ordered all sensitive electrical infrastructure in the city to be placed under police protection. 'These actions can have serious consequences, particularly on hospitals,' Estrosi said at a press briefing on Sunday. 'As long as the perpetrators haven't been caught, we will remain on high alert.'
BreakingNews.ie
25-05-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Suspected arson causes second major power outage in south of France
A second major power outage hit south-eastern France, this time in the city of Nice, after a suspected arson damaged an electrical facility. Police have not yet established a link between the blackout that affected parts of Nice as well as nearby cities of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-du-Var on Sunday, and a power outage on Saturday that disrupted the city of Cannes during the closing day of its renowned film festival. Advertisement The Nice blackout started around 2am and left some 45,000 households without electricity. Employees stand outside a shop during an electricity outage in Cannes, southern France (Natacha Pisarenko/AP) The city's trams stopped and power was briefly cut to the Nice Cote d'Azur airport during its overnight closure hours. Power was fully restored by 5.30am, according to the energy provider company Enedis. The Nice public prosecutor said a criminal investigation has been opened for 'organised arson'. Advertisement On Saturday, two other installations in the Alpes Maritime department were damaged in what officials also suspected to be arson, temporarily cutting power to 160,000 homes, including events at the Cannes Film Festival. Nice mayor Christian Estrosi condemned Sunday's attack and said the city had filed a complaint. 'I strongly denounce these malicious acts targeting our country,' he said on X. He ordered all sensitive electrical infrastructure in the city to be placed under police protection. Advertisement 'These actions can have serious consequences, particularly on hospitals,' Mr Estrosi said at a press briefing on Sunday. 'As long as the perpetrators haven't been caught, we will remain on high alert.'
Associated Press
25-05-2025
- Associated Press
Suspected arson causes a second major power outage in south of France
NICE, France (AP) — A second major power outage hit southeastern France early Sunday, this time in the city of Nice, after a suspected arson damaged an electrical facility. Police currently have not established a link between the blackout that affected parts of Nice as well as nearby cities of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-du-Var, and a power outage on Saturday that disrupted the city of Cannes during the closing day of its renown film festival. The Nice blackout started around 2 a.m. and left some 45,000 households without electricity. The city's trams stopped and power was briefly cut to the Nice Côte d'Azur airport during its overnight closure hours. Power was fully restored by 5:30 a.m., according to the energy provider company Enedis. The Nice public prosecutor said a criminal investigation has been opened for 'organized arson.' On Saturday, two other installations in the Alpes Maritime department were damaged in what officials also suspected to be arson, temporarily cutting power to 160,000 homes, including events at the Cannes Film Festival. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi condemned Sunday's attack and said the city had filed a complaint. 'I strongly denounce these malicious acts targeting our country,' he said on X. He ordered all sensitive electrical infrastructure in the city to be placed under police protection. 'These actions can have serious consequences, particularly on hospitals,' Estrosi said at a press briefing on Sunday. 'As long as the perpetrators haven't been caught, we will remain on high alert.'
