Power outages due to inclement weather

WHILE the recent spate of heavy rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal has brought some much needed relief to the province’s water supply constraints, the higher than average downpour has, however, also wreaked havoc to utility infrastructure, the City said in a press release last week.

This has affected Municipal service operations, especially electricity distribution.

Since the rainstorm, the number of electricity related faults reported notched up into the thousands. Electricity outages became more prominent as the rains continued, leading to almost one thousand electricity faults being reported daily. The latest report as of 28 July indicates that there are still 2 592 faults outstanding, said head of communications, Tozi Mthethwa.

There are outages throughout the City, with some parts being more affected than others. Officials from the City’s Electricity Department have been working around the clock since the beginning of last week to restore electricity in the affected areas. The officials were out and about even in the rainy weather, and as a result, only 430 of the above faults are outstanding, added Mthethwa.

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