This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Venezuela has been hit by a nationwide power outage that the government has blamed without evidence on an “electromagnetic attack” on the nation’s hydroelectric system.

The blackouts affected at least 14 of Venezuela’s 24 states, including the capital, Caracas, where power went out at around 4pm (8pm GMT) on Monday. It caused chaos on the city’s roads as traffic lights and the subway stopped working during rush hour.

“This is horrible, a disaster,” Reni Blanco, a 48-year-old teacher, said as she joined a crush of people who flooded into the streets of the capital trying to make it home before nightfall.

Venezuela blackout: what caused it and what happens next? Read more

The information minister, Jorge Rodríguez, blamed an “electromagnetic attack” on the power system but did not give any details. He said authorities were working to restore electricity as quickly as possible.

“Those who’ve systematically attacked the noble people of Venezuela in all kinds of ways will once again be confronted with the mettle and courage that we, the children of our liberator Simón Bolívar, have demonstrated in the face of difficulties,” Rodríguez said in a statement read on state television.

He appealed for calm and said contingency plans had been activated so that medical facilities would not be affected. Security forces were also being deployed to guarantee public safety.

Venezuela suffered a series of blackouts in March that left millions of people without running water and telecommunications. The power cuts were the worst in decades and exacerbated an economic crisis that has halved the size of the economy.

The government blamed the March blackouts on a US-sponsored attempt to disrupt the Guri dam hydro facility, which provides about 80% of the country’s power.

Venezuela’s national power grid has fallen into disrepair after years without investment and insufficient maintenance, according to the opposition and power experts.

As the night wore on, reports said that power returned for about 10 minutes to parts of south-eastern Bolivar state, site of the Guri dam, but went out again. Electricity was still out throughout Caracas.

“It terrifies me to think we are facing a national blackout again,” said Maria Luisa Rivero, a 45-year-old business owner from the city of Valencia, in the central state of Carabobo.

“The first thing I did was run to freeze my food so that it does not go bad like it did like the last time in March. It costs a lot to buy food just to lose it,” she said.

The oil-rich country’s hyperinflationary economic crisis has led to widespread shortages in food and medicine, prompting more than four million Venezuelans to leave the country.

“These blackouts are catastrophic,” said 51-year-old janitor Bernardina Guerra, who lives in Caracas. “I live in the eastern part of the city and there the lights go out every day. Each day things are worse.”