Subject: what causes loss of all electrical power in a localized area?

what causes loss of all electrical power in a localized area?

I was recently witness to several strange events that I can find
no logical explination for.
In  rural areas near where I live there have been several
instances of localized, brief, power outages that have no 
explination. The power company has been trying to discover
what is causing these instances, but finds nothing wrong with
their equipment.

Last year when these events started happening, I was driving
late at night on a back road with a buddy following in his car.
We saw something moving across the sky at a high rate of speed.
We stopped to get a better look, and when we got back in our
cars and went to start the engines, both our batteries were dead.
I am not sure what the status of the other battery was, but both
my battery and alternator were less than one month old.

I am not sure that I believe in UFO's, but I have no other explination
for these events. I have heard that when a nuclear device is used
that it creates a magnetic pulse that cancels out all electrical 
activity. 

I was hoping that you could tell me what could cause all electrical
power to be nuetralized like this. The theory I have been hearing
from most people who might know what causes this is that it is
being caused by a localized magnetic field.

Please give me your opinion on this.

Thank you for your input.

Re:what causes loss of all electrical power in a localized area?