160,000 homes were left without electricity this Saturday in the western part of the Alpes-Maritimes affected this Saturday by a power outage in the western part of the Alpes-Maritimes, including the city of Cannes, the Electricity Transmission Network Services (RTE) announced, Enedis reported.
The Alpes-Maritimes prefecture confirmed on the social network X that the large-scale power outage affected Antibes, Grasse and Cannes this morning.
“RTE is currently working to normalize the situation“, indicates the prefecture, which called on the population to be careful and cautious.
According to the gendarmerie, the power outage was the result of two “malicious acts“.
The first power outage occurred after “two arsons“ at around 2:45 a.m. at the “Saint-Cassien“ power plant in Tanneron, Var department, the Ministry of the Interior said. According to the ministry, the disaster left 20,430 subscribers in Var and 25,000 in Alpes-Maritimes without electricity. The fire was under control by 6:30 a.m. Power was restored, but the network remained down throughout the morning.
In addition, several poles were cut in the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture - in the municipalities of Villeneuve-Loubay, Mougins and Cannes sur Mer. About a hundred firefighters were on the scene this afternoon in Alpes-Maritimes, mainly because of blocked elevators, the gendarmerie said.
The shutdown comes as Cannes prepares to announce the winners of the film festival this Saturday evening. The Palais des Festivals is currently powered by generators, a journalist from France Inter noted. Three generators will provide electricity during the closing ceremony. The ceremony will not be affected, the authorities and the organizers jointly assured.
“The Palais des Festivals has switched to an independent power supply system, allowing all events and screenings scheduled for today, including the closing ceremony, to continue under normal conditions“, the statement said.
Source: francebleu.fr