CARACAS—A major power outage hit almost half of Venezuela including the capital Caracas on Tuesday, prompting emergency officials to call for calm as the blackout caused traffic chaos on a hot afternoon in the city.
Caracas' metro train system ground to a halt, traffic lights went out and mobile phone services collapsed during the country's rush hour.
A government official said the power failure was caused by a broken cable and that he expected electricity supplies would be restored within four hours across the oil exporting nation.
"It happened at the moment of peak demand," said Hipolito Izquierdo, head of the country's electricity authority. "The line that failed is now totally repaired."
Venezuela nationalized two electricity companies last year, although the power failure on Tuesday was at the distribution company which has always been in state hands.
Izquierdo said energy would be restored to Caracas within an hour and to the rest of Venezuela during the evening. Emergency services called on the population to remain calm.
Officials at state-owned oil company PDVSA said they could not confirm or deny if refineries were affected, although the power was out in the oil-producing states of Falcon and Zulia.
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