(Bloomberg) -- Electricity supplies in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were being restored Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the entire central Asian region, shutting airports and leaving millions of people without electricity or water.

Kazakhstan’s state-run grid operator Kegoc said electricity supplies were fully restored in the country’s biggest city, Almaty, and work was ongoing to resume supplies in the southern parts of the country.

Uzbekistan was in the process of disconnecting its grid from the unified central Asian network and relaunching plants separately, according to an Energy Ministry statement. The ministry said electricity supplies had already been restored in some parts of the country.

The blackout occurred after a major power line in southern Kazakhstan was disconnected, according to that country’s authorities. Neighboring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan were also affected as the power grids of the central Asian nations are interconnected.

The accident came as the leaders of the five central Asia nations were about to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in a video conference.

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