Power outages sweep across Israel

Blackouts rolled across the country Friday morning after a production malfunction at an Israel Electric Corporation power plant in Ashkelon.

Power losses were reported in approximately 10% of the homes in Israel, Israel Radio reported. The electric company said the problem was fixed and that full power was returned shortly thereafter.

Outages were reported in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Rehovot, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Rosh Ha’ayin and Yehud.

Firefighters were summoned to buildings across the country to help people escape from trapped elevators. Knocked-out traffic lights in Beersheba and Netanya caused massive backups across the cities.

The Electric Corporation reported that the outages were the result of a production problem at the Rutenberg power plant in the coastal city of Ashkelon.