A whole country without power!

Well last night on a small Island called Malta in the Mediterranean, there was a total power cut.

Both main power stations went down, once one failed the other blew under the load. Now it was only for a few hours before power was on but it made me think....

How on earth did a country go without power even though for a short time and nothing happend?

We even had flights diverted to Catania due to the only International Airport without power, All the lights and traffic lights down, litterally everything that didn't have a generator was down.

Malta is very small and less than 500,000 population so maybe not much compared to some cities without power which can happen without too many problems.

Then again this isnt a city, it is a Country.
What made me think was how Malta dealt with it, Or should I say the people. Most people in my town came out and just stayed outside chatting really. Saying that Malta tends to have these total blackouts at least yearly so many here are acustomed to it.

But what if this happend on another country? I ask ATSers here, if your country were to go completely without electricity for a couple of hours, would anything really happen? Would there be chaos or like my scenario where everyone just took in the stars and waited for the lights to come back on. I know different issues really because of size etc but still as a country im sure there is alot that could go wrong.

well in queensland aus when we had the major floods in 2012 the power here was cut for i think a total of 6 days .. to be honest people lost the plot could not pump fuel to power generators no food getting through due to flooding on the roads im just lucky that i live in the bush and we have power outages often and i am prepared i have 300ltrs of diesel on stand buy for my generator grow my own food and cull my own beef for food. but when the roads were cut before the power went down people were panic buying it was crazy people turn into animals in situations like these hence i choose the country life. invest into solar power im going to go completely off grid soon. as the power company here charge .55 cents a day just to have the cable connected to the house ...... pack of thieves sorry to go off topic a lil bit .... but yeah i dont think it would be nice to many people are dependent on the grid

I bet (no pun intended) that a lot of worldwide online poker players were a bit narked about that?

Hope that all the hospitals and care centers as well as people depending on electricity were able to manage?

Kindest respects

Rodinus

a reply to: smithy2014

Wow 6 days..... That would even drive me slightly crazy tbh.

I totally under stand what your going for with the self sufficient route. If you can, best way I say. Over here we pay some of the highest electircity rates in Europe yet still have these power cuts. Something I forgot to mention in the original post but in Malta because of the lack of power we actually never have a full 100% power. Every week a district/town will have power down for a few hours a day and its like we all take turns just so the power stations can cope.

a reply to: Rodinus

Haha I completely forgot about the poker companies, I think alot of them have onsite generators, like the place where I work it just flips onto the genny once the power goes out. But theres still a moment where the server resets.... Bad timing if you go all in

With the Hospital at least, as far as I know its generator was working fine and no glitches. As Smithy2014 Pointed out actually about pumping fuel etc. In Malta we still have the 'Mobile Fuel Trucks'. Litterally moving gas stations that act like a milkman. Goes house to house selling fuel for either generators or even sells Kerosene for lamps.

Sums up how many times these cuts happen for us to keep the old ways of pre WW2 at least it helps.

originally posted by: Maltese5Rhino
a reply to: Rodinus

Haha I completely forgot about the poker companies, I think alot of them have onsite generators, like the place where I work it just flips onto the genny once the power goes out. But theres still a moment where the server resets.... Bad timing if you go all in

With the Hospital at least, as far as I know its generator was working fine and no glitches. As Smithy2014 Pointed out actually about pumping fuel etc. In Malta we still have the 'Mobile Fuel Trucks'. Litterally moving gas stations that act like a milkman. Goes house to house selling fuel for either generators or even sells Kerosene for lamps.

Sums up how many times these cuts happen for us to keep the old ways of pre WW2 at least it helps.

Thanks for the update mate.

Crikey... those mobile fuel trucks have been going around for yonks... I have family that served in the Navy and were based in Malta back in the late 70s early 80s and they told me about those trucks.

Lucky you for living in Malta, one of these days I am going to pop over there as just a quick plane flight away... (Maybe in October for Mrs Rs 40th)

I have always wanted to visit Gozo, Comino,Valletta and Medina... (but probably not all at the same time...) I will start with Gozo.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Didnt the whole of the NE USA go down for a night a decade or so ago? New Yorkers couldnt take the subway home so every cab was full. Some went to the local bar and actually talked to each other instead of going straight home after work. Imagine that.

a reply to: Rodinus

Im sure you will love it over here

Tbh you could easily visit Them all in a week or two. Comino and Mdina are my faveroute places to go with Family when they come over.

originally posted by: Cinrad
Didnt the whole of the NE USA go down for a night a decade or so ago? New Yorkers couldnt take the subway home so every cab was full. Some went to the local bar and actually talked to each other instead of going straight home after work. Imagine that.

Do you have room sometime in August for a nutter, his wife and a junior nutter?

Methinks that a Maltese ATS meeting is in preparation here?

Kindest respects

Rod

a reply to: Maltese5Rhino

I'm quite sure that in my country (Israel) after a few hours without power, people will start getting freaked out because they cannot charge their iphones anymore... they will start complaining after about 10 minutes of why it hasn't been fixed yet, and will probably be upset and distressed for quite some time...

Here it would probably take only a few hours before the # hits the fan lol...

Yes, people suck.

a reply to: Shuye

Affraid to say I am very reliant on my tech devices. I don't thik 15 mins past, just after I lit some candles and distributed them around the flat. I ended up having the laptop on and was on the Ipad playing games to pass the time and checking my phones internet for updates to the power cut. I don't think I even needed to have the candles with the amount of light those things emit.

a reply to: Rodinus

August you sure? Its getting rather too hot now even for me. That was probally the worst thing about last night.... No fans, No Air con and humidity hitting 80% Too hot to even sleep lol

originally posted by: Maltese5Rhino
a reply to: Rodinus

August you sure? Its getting rather too hot now even for me. That was probally the worst thing about last night.... No fans, No Air con and humidity hitting 80% Too hot to even sleep lol

Crikey... Didn't have my coffee fix...

I am looking for something for the first week of October... Dugghhh not August... sorry

Was thinking of Greece too but just digging into things right now.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

a reply to: Rodinus

Its nice in October, though it can rain during that month sometimes.

Greece now, It depends where you go..... I personally didnt like Athens. But that was some 15 years ago now. Just felt so run down the place. Much the same dissapointment I had going to Egypt again a long time ago now.

But the islands like Crete etc they are superb! Ive been to Greece for holidays more than anyother country except UK. I love it there

But ofcourse Id always big up Malta first and personally I find Malta has most of anything you might want on a holiday. The sun, the sea, the history and arts. Its relativly cheap IMO Well compared to some other places. If you like history Malta is probally the number one place in Europe I would say. Just for the compactness one village street alone would have a Temple Complex over 3,000 Years old right next to a 15th Century Church and as much as I am not that religous, the Churches in Malta are impressive.

a reply to: Maltese5Rhino

I think people manage , because they are used to it.
It also being a small country is something to take into consideration too.
(Ps: My brother lived in Malta for 2 years, he said it was one of the most beautiful places in the world.)

In Lebanon they have power cuts every day, since the 2006 war.
People pay money to people who supply them with electricity trough generators during the 3-4 hours when the real power cuts out.

It's such a huge income that the politicians haven't done anything to bring the electricity back to 24 hours a day. They are all corrupt.
Some politicians make promises to bring the full electricity back, but none actually do it.

Anyways I was just trying to say that, Lebanon, Malta, are small countries, and are used to it, so I think that's why there's no riots, or problems.

But to be honest I'm not sure the same thing would happen if this happened to U.S.A. .

Ps: I'm not from Lebanon, but have been living here for 5 years, and hear all these stories from my coworkers.

a reply to: Rainbowresidue

That was my assumption as well, that because it happens so regulary that its now part of the norm to loose power for a couple of hours. Added that with small countries we tend to have only a few powersources and only takes one to malfunction to put a strain on the grid.

Politicians yep, they do know all too well what they should be doing and instead don't.

In Malta they are soon going to start work on a new powerstation but again it always seems the money allocated for the project tends to 'dissapear' somewhere before they get to spend it.

It's probally part of the problem when people are used to a situation, its hard to get a collective group really campainging for better energy solutions from the goverment when the current norm is nearly perseaved as 'It's not that bad'

Thanks for the input

a reply to: Maltese5Rhino

I know that I get a bit on edge when power is out here. Even though the longest power outage I have experienced is 3 days, I was still able to purchase ice, and keep my perishables from perishing.

I wonder what kind of panic would ensue if power went out across the entire nation. Probably riots, looting and a great many fires. Further a ton of people frantic because the batteries on their smartphones are dying.

a reply to: kelbtalfenek

Ow! Kelbtalfenek

Good to see another Maltese on here, Aparently there are some areas still out from last nights power cut.

I hear rumors that Gudja is out but not sure.

a reply to: Maltese5Rhino


Actually I'm not maltese, only my dogs are. But I'm not clever enough to think of a cool nickname.

a reply to: Maltese5Rhino

People panick when
facebook crashes.