CHILDREN at a holiday park in the Lleida province countryside were able to return home yesterday after being stuck in a cabin for nearly 36 hours with no electricity.
A total of 90 youngsters were stranded in Montoliu de Segarra, in the land-locked northern part of Catalunya after the power went off at 07.00 on Saturday due to freak storms and record snowfall in the region.
The holiday park is one of five customers of electricity distributor Endesa which was left in the dark, along with practically every resident in the village of Montoliu.
Mayor Vicenç Roig complained on regional radio that the children were in danger of hypothermia if Endesa did not act fast, given that the daytime temperature peaked at 5ºC and, if they had to spend a night there, would be facing minus figures with no heating whatsoever.
Endesa said the power cuts caused by the snow were so widespread that it was taking their engineers several hours to get everyone's electricity back.
It took until noon yesterday (Sunday) before the power was back on, meaning the 90 children had to huddle together with extra blankets during a freezing night.
They were given a hot lunch and then taken home at around 16.00, say municipal police in Montoliu.
Photograph: By Montoliu de Segarra town hall on its Facebook page
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