Southern Portugal Blackout of 2000

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Storks, such as the one that caused the Southern Portugal Blackout of 2000, often make their nests on power poles.

The Southern Portugal Blackout of 2000 was a major power outage that left the entire southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, without power for a few hours. The blackout occurred shortly after 10:00 p.m. local time, on May 9, 2000. The "apagão", as it is known to the Portuguese, suddenly plunged Lisbon in complete darkness. Stalled commuter trains and nonworking traffic lights wreaked some havoc in the streets. Security was immediately reinforced in the city, but no rise in criminal activity was registered.

EDP, the main Portuguese electricity operator, later reported that the blackout was due to the electrocution of an unfortunate stork, which landed "on the wrong place at the wrong time". Because of this, the story was reported in the "oddly enough" sections of some European newspapers.