Los Angeles Public Relations

One of the biggest hydroelectric dams shared by Brazil and Paraguay failed last night plunging most of central and southern Brazil into darkness. At around 7.30 pm EST, the Itapúa dam completely shut down. Technicians were on hand and some power has been returned overnight but still millions have been left without any electricity. Officials at the Braxual national electric system told CNN that the occurrence at Itapúa caused an outage of 18,000 megawatts- in simple term this is equivalent to a city like NY and its entire surrounding being without any power.

Besides the country side, Brazils’ two large cities, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have been severely affected. The capital Brasilia, has been untouched. The neighboring countries Paraguay and Uruguay have also reported sporadic blackouts along the border area with Brazil.

Itapúa meaning “the sound of stone” in Guaraní language is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. This spectacular dam is second only to the three gorges Dam in its ability to generate power. Just last year, the plant generated a monumental 95 billion kilowatt hours. The Dam currently supplies 90 percent of the energy consumed by Paraguay and 20 percent by Brazil.

Fifteen years ago, the American society of civil engineers nominated the Itapúa Dam as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The dam has been featured in many national magazines.