US power cuts hit flights

Many took to the streets after the power went off

A series of power cuts across major cities in the eastern United States and Canada has caused disruption to flights in and out of Ireland.

Blackouts hit the New York area, Detroit, as well as Toronto and Ottawa causing chaos as traffic lights failed, underground railways were evacuated and people were trapped in lifts in offices and apartments.

Canadian officials said a fire at a power plant near the upstate New York town of Niagara caused the outage - at about 1610 local time (2110 GMT) - which then cascaded across the country.

But the temporary closure of all major airports on the north-eastern coast of America and Canada has disrupted travel plans for hundreds of people flying to and from Belfast, Shannon and Dublin airports.

A flight due into Belfast International Airport from Toronto International Airport shortly after 0500 BST on Friday was delayed.

However, the main disruption is expected for passengers in the Republic of Ireland with 12 transatlantic flights affected.

Two flights from Toronto due into Dublin and Shannon have been cancelled.

Delays to other flights from New York and Toronto range from three to nine hours.

Although most of the airports across the Atlantic are now fully operational, travel agents in Northern Ireland have advised passengers to check before setting off for the airport.

Siobhan Moore, a spokesperson for Aer Rianta, the Irish airports authority, said it was a bad time of year for any delays.

"It is peak season at all Irish airports at this time of year, particularly in August," she said.

"Any disruption of any nature does have an affect. We advise people to contact the airline in question."

In America, the power cuts have affected millions of people.

The US Department of Homeland Security said it was investigating the cause of the blackouts but US officials - who dispute the Niagara theory - have said there is no evidence terrorism is to blame.

Power is slowly returning to the affected areas - thought to encompass more than 50m people - but full restoration will take much longer, officials say.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission spokesman Bryan Lee said the outage destabilised the power grid, cascading up and taking "a loop around the Great Lakes into Canada".

But US officials were looking at a power transmission problem from Canada as the most likely cause of the biggest outage in US history, said a spokeswoman for New York Governor George Pataki.

The US Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into six airports, three in the New York area, one in Cleveland, and two in Canada.

In New York City, subways, lifts and airports, including John F Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, lost electricity or resorted to limited backup power.