Heavy Fog Causes Rare Power Failure

February 23, 2001 10:40 am EST

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Northern China was still recovering Friday after what officials called the heaviest fog in 50 years sparked freak and widespread power outages and shut down production at several listed industrial firms. The fog gathered at dawn and lasted till mid-afternoon on Thursday, paralyzing Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, and causing damage in many other cities in the region, a Liaoning official told Reuters Friday.

It cut 70 percent of the power to Shenyang and caused a total blackout in its heavy industrial district, state media said.

The fog dampened the insulating coat around electric wires and they stopped functioning, causing dangerous sparking from open wires, officials said.

Some power station equipment exploded and many wires were burned, said an official at the Shenyang Electric Power Bureau.

"Our technicians could only watch idly while fireballs danced around high-tension wires because it was too dangerous to touch," he told Reuters by telephone.

Visibility was less than 200 meters (yards) on the roads, dozens of flights were canceled or delayed and railway services were seriously affected, state media reported.

http://www.iwon.com/home/news/news_article/0,11746,102422|oddlyenough|02-23-2001::10:41|reuters,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 23, 2001