A major power outage hits Balkan region as countries swelter in an early summer heat wave

abcnews.go.com:

A major power outage has hit the Western Balkans as the region swelters in an early heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring to up to 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit

PODGORICA, Montenegro — A major hourslong power outage hit much of the Balkans on Friday as the southern European region sweltered in an early heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Montenegrin authorities said that an outage that lasted for several hours in the country's power distribution system left almost the entire nation without electricity, while similar problems were reported in the coastal part of Croatia, and in Bosnia and Albania.

Nada Pavicevic, a spokeswoman for Montenegro's state power distribution company, described the outage as a “disturbance of regional proportion,” and said authorities were still working to determine what happened.

The exact cause of the outage was not immediately clear as the regional power grid has been overloaded for days because of overconsumption and the use of air-conditioning in high temperatures.

Bosnia’s state power company said the outage there was caused by problems in a regional distribution line, while Albania’s state power company said the “extreme heat” caused the problem.

Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Albania share the Adriatic Sea coastline and the power grids in the region remain interconnected, decades after the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

“The whole electric grid system of continental Europe is connected together, and that sometimes has its benefits but also has its flaws," said Danko Blazevic, the head of Croatia's electric grid networks.

“The advantage is that you can import and export and sell power, but then the flaw