Widespread power outages hit Venezuela

(CNN) - Widespread power outages struck Venezuela Tuesday afternoon at the hour of peak demand, an official said.

"It's affecting quite a few areas of the country," said Luis Diaz Curvelo, national director of civil protection, in a telephone interview with Globovision Television. It said some 40 percent of the country had been blacked out since about 4:15 p.m. (4:45 p.m. ET).

The president of the Electric National Corporation, Hipolito Izquierdo, told state-run Venezuelan Television that power would begin returning by 5:30 p.m. (6 p.m. ET).

He said most of the eastern part of the country was unaffected. "We're taking all action to ensure this does not recur," he said, adding that such blackouts usually are the result of a convergence of factors. In this case, he cited high temperatures as a contributing factor.