 The continent was in total disarray, dozens of people were trapped in elevators, numerous trains were halted, and the emergency services were receiving an overwhelming number of calls.The immediate action taken by the Transmission System Operators (TSO) prevented the disturbance from turning into a Europe-wide blackout.The cause of this major blackout was a planned routine disconnection of the Ems powerline crossing in Northwest Germany to allow a ship to pass beneath the overhead cables.