Power outage in S. France, Cannes Film Festival goes on as scheduled

CANNES -- The Prefecture of the southern French Department of Alpes-Maritimes on Saturday confirmed that a power outage is affecting the western part of the department, including Cannes and its surroundings.

"A major power outage is currently affecting the western Alpes-Maritimes region," the Prefecture said on its X account, adding that some 160,000 households have lost access to electricity.

In Cannes, where the 78th Cannes Film Festival is being held, shops, residences and the train station have no lights on, but train traffic seems to run as scheduled, despite a bit of chaos with passengers asking for information.

According to French news channel BFMTV, two causes may have led to the power outage: a fire that took place around 2:45 am (0045 GMT) in an electricity post, and the fall of a high-voltage electric pole around 10 am (0800 GMT) on Saturday.

The news channel said, citing a police source, that both incidents might have been deliberately carried out as sabotage.

The 78th Cannes Film Festival organizers said that, thanks to an independent power supply, all scheduled events and screenings, including the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions.