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<p>BUENOS AIRES, Argentina &#8212; A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay on Sunday in what the Argentine president called an &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; failure in the countries&#8217; power grid.</p><p>Authorities were working frantically to restore power, but 12 hours after the country went dark, more than a quarter of Argentina&#8217;s 44 million people were still without power and the cause of the outage remained unclear.</p><p>As the sun rose over the darkened country, Argentine voters were forced to cast ballots by the light of cell phones in gubernatorial elections. Public transportation was halted, shops closed and patients dependent on home medical equipment were urged to go to hospitals with generators.</p><p>&#8220;This is an unprecedented case that will be investigated thoroughly,&#8221; Argentine President Mauricio Macri said on Twitter.</p><p>Argentina&#8217;s power grid is generally known for being in a state of disrepair, with substations and cables that were insufficiently upgraded as power rates remained largely frozen for years.</p><p>The country&#8217;s energy secretary said the blackout occurred about 7 a.m. local time when a key Argentine interconnection system collapsed.</p><p>The Argentine energy company Edesur said on Twitter that the failure originated at an electricity transmission point between the power stations at the country&#8217;s Yacyret&#225; dam and Salto Grande in the country&#8217;s northeast.</p><p>But why it occurred was still unknown.</p><p>An Argentine independent energy expert said that systemic operational and design errors played a role in the power grid&#8217;s collapse.</p><p>&#8220;A localized failure like the one that occurred should be isolated by the same system,&#8221; said Ra&#250;l Bertero, president of the Center for the Study of Energy Regulatory Activity in Argentina. &#8220;The problem is known and technology and studies (exist) to avoid it.&#8221;</p><p>By mid-afternoon, power had been restored to most of Uruguay&#8217;s 3 million people. But in Argentina, only 72% of the nation&#8217;s grid was back up and running as of 7 p.m. local time, the national news agency Telam reported.</p><p>Energy Secretary Gustavo Lopetegui said workers were working to restore electricity nationwide by the end of the day.</p><p>&#8220;This is an extraordinary event that should have never happened,&#8221; he told a news conference. &#8220;It&#8217;s very serious.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-826116c2c13f43219d9e1ee88bac7e61.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A sign, which usually displays the price of various types of gas electronically, stands without power during a blackout, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, June 16, 2019. Argentina and Uruguay were working frantically to return power on Sunday, after a massive power failure left large swaths of the South American countries in the dark. (AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-826116c2c13f43219d9e1ee88bac7e61.jpg</photo0><caption0>A sign, which usually displays the price of various types of gas electronically, stands without power during a blackout, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, June 16, 2019. Argentina and Uruguay were working frantically to return power on Sunday, after a massive power failure left large swaths of the South American countries in the dark. (AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-76e7d2d591bb46d5bb3ee3a9286fe3cb.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A man stands inside a store without power during a blackout in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-76e7d2d591bb46d5bb3ee3a9286fe3cb.jpg</photo1><caption1>A man stands inside a store without power during a blackout in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sunday. </caption1><photoCredit1>AP photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-9d524f1928dc4b9c9d230bc2cb1caec3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hallways of Buenos Aires's subway are lit only by emergency lights during a blackout, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, June 16, 2019. Argentina and Uruguay were working frantically to return power on Sunday, after a massive power failure left large swaths of the South American countries in the dark. (AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_123038023-9d524f1928dc4b9c9d230bc2cb1caec3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hallways of Buenos Aires's subway are lit only by emergency lights during a blackout, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, June 16, 2019. Argentina and Uruguay were working frantically to return power on Sunday, after a massive power failure left large swaths of the South American countries in the dark. (AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta)</caption2><photoCredit2>AP photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Byrne and Luis Andres Henao</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Tens of millions without power in South America