Berlin restored electricity to tens of thousands of customers this afternoon, five days after a suspected act of sabotage plunged parts of the German capital into darkness in what officials called the longest outage since the end of World War II.
City officials said power was fully restored to roughly 45,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses following round-the-clock repairs. The blackout affected more than 100,000 Berliners, many of whom endured more than four days without power and heating as temperatures hovered near freezing.
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Local police said the outage began when high-voltage cables near a gas power plant in the south of the city were set ablaze by incendiary devices last Saturday. A far-left environmentalist group calling itself “Vulkangruppe” (Volcano Group) claimed responsibility in a statement on Sunday. German federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident and the group’s claim.
The sudden loss of electricity rippled across the city’s daily life. Streets went dark in affected neighborhoods, train services were disrupted, internet access was cut for many and some hospitals experienced initial interruptions in power supply before backup systems and emergency measures took hold.
Emergency responders spent days stabilizing essential services while crews worked to repair the damaged infrastructure. Volunteers from a German federal relief agency deployed mobile generators to power critical sites in affected districts, and military personnel helped refuel the units. The German Red Cross opened heated shelters and provided beds for residents who could not stay in their homes.
Progress was uneven. By yesterday, officials said only about one-third of the affected households had their power back. Restoration accelerated overnight into today as more temporary generation came online and repair teams gained access to the damaged network. Authorities did not immediately provide details on the extent of the physical damage to the high-voltage lines or whether additional equipment would be required long term.
While investigators have not linked this week’s incident to any foreign actor, the scale of the outage and the time it took to fully restore power have fueled concerns about Germany’s ability to protect critical infrastructure. The Berlin blackout follows a series of sabotage incidents on the country’s rail network last year and comes amid an increase in daily cyberattacks targeting German institutions and companies, according to officials.
The incident underscores the wider security challenges facing European power and transport systems, which rely on interconnected networks that can be vulnerable to physical and digital disruption. German authorities have vowed to strengthen defenses against both, but the Berlin outage will likely intensify calls for faster upgrades, tighter site security and clearer contingency plans for prolonged disruptions.
City leaders thanked residents for their patience as power returned in stages. Relief organizations said they would keep some facilities and services in place through the weekend in case of flare-ups or lingering needs among vulnerable populations.
Officials urged anyone who continues to experience power issues to contact their utility provider and avoid using improvised heating sources indoors, which can increase the risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. Police appealed for tips as they seek to identify the perpetrators and reconstruct the chain of events that led to the deliberate ignition of the cables.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
