Major Power Outage Disrupts Electricity Supply Across Belgium

(MENAFN) Approximately 20,000 households lost electricity on Thursday after a widespread power failure affected four municipalities in Belgium's East Flanders province, prompting emergency responses and disrupting essential services.

The outage struck Zottegem, Herzele, Erpe-Mere and Brakel after a high-voltage cable operated by energy transmission company Elia was damaged at around 8:50 a.m. local time (0750GMT). The incident triggered a failure at a major electricity distribution substation in Zottegem.

Around 400 distribution substations across the affected area experienced disruptions, leaving thousands of residents without power.

Electricity distributor Fluvius confirmed that repair teams were working to restore supplies but said it could not yet determine when electricity would be fully reinstated.

"This outage certainly has a major impact. We are working with all our might to rectify the situation," the company said.

Meanwhile, emergency services were participating in a crisis meeting in Zottegem to evaluate the situation and organize the necessary response, according to Mayor Evelien De Both.

The electricity failure also disrupted operations at AZ Sint-Elisabeth Hospital in Zottegem, where backup generators proved insufficient to operate all medical equipment.

As a result, hospital authorities canceled all scheduled medical procedures, while chief physician Manuel Valcke urged patients requiring treatment to contact alternative healthcare facilities.

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