Energy outage Cannes Movie Competition, doable arson

A serious energy outage struck southeastern France on Saturday morning, disrupting site visitors and briefly halting occasions on the Cannes Movie Competition as the celebrated occasion ready handy out its prime prize.

Energy was restored round 3 p.m., as music started blasting once more from beachfront audio system. The top of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals.

Earlier, about 160,000 households within the Alpes-Maritimes division misplaced electrical energy after a high-voltage line fell Saturday morning, electrical energy community operator RTE mentioned on X. The outage got here hours after a fireplace at {an electrical} substation close to Cannes in a single day had already weakened the grid.

Police have opened an investigation into doable arson.

“We’re trying into the probability of a fireplace being began intentionally,” mentioned a spokesperson for the French nationwide gendarmerie.

Cannes Movie Competition organizers confirmed the outage affected the early actions of Saturday and mentioned the Palais des Festivals — the Croisette’s fundamental venue — had switched to an unbiased energy provide.

“All scheduled occasions and screenings, together with the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as deliberate and underneath regular situations,” the assertion mentioned. “At this stage, the reason for the outage has not but been recognized. Restoration efforts are underway.”

Visitors lights in components of Cannes and the encompassing metropolis of Antibes stopped working after 10 a.m., resulting in site visitors jams and confusion in metropolis facilities. Most retailers alongside the Croisette remained closed, and native meals kiosks have been solely accepting money. Prepare service in Cannes was additionally disrupted.

Screenings on the Cineum, one of many competition’s satellite tv for pc venues, have been briefly suspended, the competition added.