Big blackout in Berlin-Köpenick. It seems as if a construction
company has hit an important electric link at the Salvador-
Allende-Bridge. Not only has the drilling into the powerline
ceased electrical delivery to Köpenick but also the reserve line.

Over thousand households, two heating powerplants and several public structures were blacked out till the very end of Wednesday.

Today the power link seems to be running again.

The cause for the drilled line was that the construction company didn’t check the line plans carefully and started their construction work with fatal consequences.

It’s also doubtable why the reserve line is so close to the main line. If the reserve line would have been routed elsewhere, then this massive brownout could have been avoided.

Vattenfall, the administrator of the electric distribution said that they were working carefully to provide power to the households as soon as possible. When they said, it would be resumed on midnight to Wednesday, they underestimated the problem. Even the deadline of 3pm later on could not be held and so it finally went midnight to today until power was fully restored.

The impact was so huge that schools were closed down on Wednesday and even public structures were closed down for good.

The citizen were informed and advised to have their phones and the ones of their children charged at the schools where power was available.

With the failing of the two heating powerplants however the heat distribution to warm up the homes of over 1000 people was also severed and the flats went cold.

Hopefully the construction company and Vattenfall have learned from this incident and take necessary action to prevent another blackout in this severity class.