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This depends on what you mean by "power failure". If you are referring to the bulk electric system (really high voltage stuff), this can be due to issues with power plants, voltage stability (power swings), or faults on the system (such as a downed conductor/broken lines, or a fault caused by lightning or other natural phenomenon).
If you want specifics of what cause faults, I can give you a few examples I have seen:
-lightning
-heaving icing and strong winds (cause lines to "gallop", and blow into eachother)
-tree contacts (a very big no-no for HV and EHV, but does happen at lower voltages, 69kV - below).
-animals: Birds of Prey swooping down between conductors sometimes get zapped. We had a raccoon that got inside a control building and couldn't find the exit; it tried to climb on top of all the panels, and kept hitting breaker handles, tripping all kinds of things. Mice chewing on the wrong cables. I've seen an oppossum crawl into a small pad mount transformer and make contact with the high voltage lines. Squirrels at lower voltages (as high as 34.5kV, this may occur at higher but I have never seen).
-crop dusters getting too close to power lines
-farmers burning weeds underneath power lines (the heat ionizes the air, and the particulates help break down the insulation strength causing flashover to ground).
-tornadoes
-vehicles breaking power line structures (I saw a semi crash into an EHV H frame structure, broke clean through one leg before stoppig).
-Farming vehicles coming into contact with conductors (harvest season type vehicles can be fairly tall).
A power failure at home could be a shorted appliance, or a blown fuse.
There are many many more, but this should give you an idea.
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