The northwestern Italian city of Turin has been hit with power blackouts due to the European heatwave, revealing the strain on the local electricity network.
Outages have affected multiple districts in recent days, causing road congestion from knocked-out traffic lights.
Mayor Stefano Lo Russo stated that the grid requires more investment and maintenance.
Local utility Iren, which serves about 650,000 electricity customers in Turin, attributed the heatwave to longer daylight hours and high temperatures putting cables under thermal stress.
The city's electricity network is old, and rising temperatures and electricity consumption are exposing its vulnerabilities, according to Lo Russo.
Iren has launched a €515 million plan to modernise Turin's primary grid by 2030, but the timing and increasing frequency of heatwaves are complicating implementation plans.
The Italian Air Force's weather service forecast a high of 32 degrees Celsius (89.6°F) for Turin on Thursday, as the country experienced its first heatwave of the year.
