The US state of California may experience power outages due to the ongoing heat. The grid operator issued the highest warning level on Tuesday evening (local time), because the energy grid cannot handle the demand. The warning comes as Queen Máxima and a number of cabinet members are on a working visit to California.
People in California received an emergency call from California authorities on their phones. “Save electricity now to protect public health and safety. Extreme heat is straining the state’s power grid. Power outages can happen if you don’t take action. Turn off or reduce non-essential power if health permits, from now until 9 p.m. o’clock,” the message read at the beginning of the evening.
California is experiencing very high temperatures and the heat wave is expected to last until Friday. A new temperature record for the city was set in the city of Sacramento on Tuesday. It was over 46 degrees there. Queen Máxima is still in San Francisco on Tuesday, where it became around 37 degrees.
Máxima is on a working visit to the US until Friday. King Willem-Alexander would also go, but because of pneumonia he is not allowed to fly. Minister Schreinemacher (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation), Minister Kuipers (Public Health), Minister Dijkgraaf (Education) and State Secretary Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management) are on board.