New blackout affected southern France
Nice was without power for up to four hours due to an act that authorities are investigating as sabotage
The city of Nice, on the French Riviera, in southern France, suffered a power outage early in the morning caused by an intentional fire, authorities reported on Sunday, just a day after something similar occurred in Cannes, 32 km away. Approximately 45,000 homes were without electricity for at least an hour.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi (center-right) accused “malicious acts” of the power outage. Estrosi emphasized that service was quickly restored. The fire broke out overnight at an electrical post in the Les Moulins neighborhood, a neighborhood plagued by drug trafficking in western Nice, the prosecutor's office said.
“On May 25, 2025, around 2 a.m., an electrical transformer located on Avenue Paul Montel in Nice was intentionally attacked and set on fire,” a statement from the prosecutor's office said. Estrosi, for his part, specified that it was a “strategic supply point.” Sixty percent of users had their electricity restored in less than an hour. Full normality returned around 6 a.m.
Earlier in Cannes
Nice judicial police are conducting inquiries into "a crime of destruction by arson committed by an organized gang." The prosecutor's office told French newspaper Le Parisien that "investigations and technical examinations are underway, in particular to clarify the damage and the manner in which the act was committed." Tire tracks were discovered at the scene, police said.
On Saturday, deliberate acts of vandalism against two electrical installations in the same region caused a blackout lasting several hours, affecting 160,000 homes, particularly in Cannes, in the middle of the film festival, which was able to continue thanks to its autonomous supply system. The area around Cannes was without power for more than five hours until the company responsible was finally able to restore service.
Authorities have not established any link between the two incidents, which have not been claimed.
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