The cell phone network collapsed, traffic lights failed and trams stopped. A power failure in Dresden caused chaos. The police are investigating.
Update from September 14th, 1:13 p.m .: The police and the network operator SachsenEnergie commented on the mega power failure at a press conference. According to initial findings, a balloon coated with aluminum caused a short circuit in a substation. 300,000 households in Dresden and the surrounding area were affected by the blackout. At first it is still unclear whether the balloon was deliberately controlled or whether it came to the neuralgic point of the Dresden Süd feed-in substation by accident.
Blackout in Dresden an attack? “Letter of responsibility is missing”
The balloon, or the remains of the balloon, is a “completely normal balloon” like the one found at fairs or at weddings, said police spokesman Thomas Geithner. He was not manipulated or prepared. “We assume that it was negligent.” In addition, there is no letter of confession. “Actually, you should brag about it,” said the police spokesman. However, the investigator admits that it can in fact not be ruled out that the balloon was placed there.
The massive power failure in Dresden was “unusual”. The state security was switched on because a “political background” could not be ruled out at first. In Dresden there was a court hearing at exactly this point in time, which was seen in connection with the power failure.
The operator does not want to comment in detail on the system and its neuralgic points. The incident is being investigated. However, preventive measures are to be improved in the future. Video surveillance, for example, should be expanded.
Mega power failure in Dresden: was it an attack? 300,000 households without electricity
First report from September 14, 2021
Dresden – After the large-scale power outage in Dresden on Monday, the police are continuing to investigate the exact cause. 300,000 households and industrial customers in Dresden and the surrounding area were temporarily affected by the blackout. The emergency power generators started up in the Dresden clinics and in the town hall. Otherwise, the power failure caused a lot of chaos. The disturbance was noticeable even in cities like Radebeul, Radeberg and Freital.
Massive blackout in Dresden – large-scale deployment of fire and rescue workers
People got stuck in elevators. Numerous emergency calls were received by the Dresden fire brigade and the ambulance service. The fire brigade deployed 24 times to rescue people from elevators. Automatic fire alarm systems caused four false alarms. The Georg-Arnold-Bad was flooded by sewage because a lifting system did not work due to the power failure. Rescuers also went out several times to see patients whose home ventilators only worked for a limited time as a result of the power failure.
SachsenEnergie announced that the electricity in Dresden stopped at exactly 1:53 p.m. And further: “The reason for this was a failure of the 110-kilovolt system due to a malfunction in the Dresden Süd transformer station.”
Power outage in Dresden: was it an attack?
When searching for the cause of the malfunction, the police found charred remains of a balloon. It is still unclear whether the metal-coated balloon, which presumably caused the power failure, was controlled in a targeted manner or accidentally reached the neuralgic point of the Dresden Süd feed-in substation, said a police spokesman on Tuesday morning. (ml with material from dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
