Power outages

A coal-fired power station in Witbank, South Africa , Monday, Oct. 11, 2021.

Scheduled blackouts roll South Africa into electricity crisis

Energy

The lights may be off, but “crisis mode” is definitely switched on in South Africa. Despite a national state of disaster and a new minister of electricity, scheduled power outages, known as load-shedding, continue to heavily impact citizens.

Marc Noisette of Westchester County, New York fixes the cables on an electric post opposite the Cathedral of San Juan in the historic quarter of Puerto Rico's capital.

In San Juan, they’re going street by street, house by house, turning the lights back on

Two days after Hurricane Irma, an elderly resident stand in a dark hallway at Cypress Run, an assisted living facility without power, food, or water, in Immokalee, Florida, U.S., September 12, 2017.

How to avoid blackouts in hurricanes? Model power grids after the internet, says one expert.

Technology