Three of the four legs of a large pole on a high-voltage power line supplying the city of Cannes were cut as part of a malicious act, the prosecutor of the French city of Grasse, Damian Savarzeux, told Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
The statement came as power is gradually being restored. The sabotage took place in the Villeneuve-Loubet region, and the electricity grid operator, RTE, temporarily took the line out of service to allow emergency teams to take urgent action. It was the removal of the high-voltage line that also led to the power outage.
It affected 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes department, where the cities of Cannes and Grasse are located. The Cannes International Film Festival is coming to an end today. The festival's grand awards will be presented tonight at the Palais des Cinémas. After the power outage, the Palais was powered by its own source, which it has in case of such emergencies.
According to the RTÉ company, about 60,000 households have now had their power restored. The power outage came hours after a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes last night, which had weakened the power grid, the Associated Press notes.
Today's incident caused traffic disruptions and traffic lights to be shut down in some parts of Cannes and the surrounding area, leading to traffic jams and chaos. Most shops on the Boulevard “Croisette“ in Cannes remained closed, and food stalls only accepted cash, as the post terminals were not working. Train services in Cannes were also disrupted.