Italian heatwave power cuts trap hundreds

Hundreds of people got stuck in lifts while switched-off traffic lights snarled cars across Italy today as heavy demand caused by a heat wave forced electricity companies to cut back on power.

It was the fist time in over 20 years that the national grid operator ordered the cut – 5% of national demand.

Grid operator GRTN, shut off 1,000 megawatts to industrial clients to stave off a massive black out after Italians turned on their cooling systems and pumped up their fridges.

Temperatures have reached into the 30s C (90s F) across Italy for more than two weeks.

“I have lost at least half of the day’s clients,” said Nando Rossetti, who runs a bar near Rome’s Piazza Venezia, where the power cut struck at lunch time.

“Clients would get in, see it was all black, and leave.”