The problem began at 11: 31 p.m. on July 29, and within three minutes 153 power plants and substations in the Taipower network had shut down, including every power plant from Chiayi northwards. The result was the island's worst power outage of the last 50 years.
從七月二十九日深夜十一時三十一分開始，在三分多鐘內，台電的供電系統中有一百五十三個發電廠和變電所的電源開關跳脫，嘉義以北所有電廠全部跳機，造成台灣近五十年以來最嚴重的停電事件。