Argentina and Uruguay Power Outage: "Everything came to a halt."

Buenos Aires, Argentina. By Mo Visions @ Shutterstock.com

“Everything came to a halt.” Those were the words of Juan Borges from Buenos Aires. He told the BBC, “Elevators, water pumps, everything. We were left adrift.”

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Borges was referring to the effect of a massive, two-country-wide power outage that knocked out electricity to 48 million people in Argentina and Uruguay.

The worst part about the outage? No one knows yet what caused it. Cyber-attack? Maybe. Infrastructure issues? Possibly. No one knows.

Perhaps most terrifying for Argentinians was the lack of backup power generation for the country’s water distribution systems. BBC reports:

One of Argentina’s biggest water companies, Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos, warned those without power to conserve water, as the distribution of drinking water had been affected by the outage.

Social media reports of the power outage were widespread – from the capital Buenos Aires in the north, to Mendoza in the west and Comodoro Rivadavia in the south, among many other cities. Residents posted pictures of dark towns and cities and long lines of cars queuing at petrol stations.

My series on water preparation will help you understand the necessary steps in protecting yourself from water supply disruptions.

Anyone looking to prepare themselves for a long-term loss of power should also be well equipped with communications systems, and a top of the line survival kit.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.