Prague blackout: Motol hospital, parliament and trams hit by outage

A large-scale power outage hit Prague: at around 9:30 a.m., a short circuit at the Praha-západ substation left districts on the left bank of the Vltava without electricity. Traffic lights went out, tram service was restricted, and the Chamber of Deputies had to interrupt its session.

According to Prague firefighters, the cause was a short circuit at the Západ substation. The substation at Červený vrch also failed. In Malá Strana, where parliament is located, there was no electricity for about half an hour.

Hospitals switched to backup power

The outage also affected major medical facilities: the Central Military Hospital, as well as Motol and Homolka hospitals. For a time they operated on backup power.

Transport and rescuers

Traffic lights were out across the entire affected area, and tram service was restricted. The Petřín funicular also stopped.

Firefighters responded to five incidents in which people had to be freed from stuck lifts. According to them, there were no serious problems on the roads: police officers directed traffic at key intersections.

Police spokeswoman Eva Kropáčová urged drivers to be extremely careful at intersections and to follow police officers' instructions.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz