ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A blackout has left Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, without power.
Almost all of the districts of the city -- with an estimated population of 1.8 million -- stopped receiving electricity after 2 p.m. local time on July 15.
Officials say 400 police officers were deployed to direct traffic after all of the city's traffic lights stopped working.
The city's subway system has also stopped operations.
It was not immediately clear what caused the outage, and there was no official explanation.
In recent days, the city's power grid has come under additional pressure due to a heat wave that saw temperatures in Almaty soar to 35-37 degrees Celsius and prompted a surge in the use of air conditioning.
Power Outage Leaves Kazakhstan's Largest City Without Electricity
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There was chaos on the streets of Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, when traffic lights stopped working on July 15 following a power blackout. The city's subway and trolleybuses also stopped operating.