Ummm…wow. This points to a catastrophic failure in the backup power systems in this hosting facility. [here and here and here]
TDavid makes a very good point: when your systems become large enough, the power consumption alone would stun most people. One article points out that in 2001, a new Qwest facility in Sunnyvale,CA would require enough power to drive 1.2 million families. Another http://www.masselec.com/news/spring_summer_2001/News5.htm about a hosting facility in Billerica, MA talks about having six (6) 1.5 MEGAWATT backup generators.
You have to imagine what the power demands of Google’s 100,000 servers must be, even distributed worldwide.