New questions arose about Brazil’s readiness to host the World Cup and the Summer Olympics, after a widespread power outage hit at least eight states affecting tens of millions of people.

Four of the states affected will host World Cup events next year.  It took more than two-and-a-half hours to restore power in the state capitals, the largest cities; smaller cities and rural areas had to wait a lot longer.

It was caused by a fire way out in a rural area, which made several transmission lines fail.  The problem cascaded until most of the northeastern region was disconnected from the national grid.  The cause of that fire is under investigation.

Power outages in Brazil are less frequent than in the past, but still happen a few times a year, particularly in the northeast, where this outage occurred.  Two other major outages hit the region in 2012 despite recent improvements in energy infrastructure.