THE massive power outage, which has been plaguing the eMdloti community, has lasted over 60 hours.
Although some of the sections in the small community were restored yesterday, others remain without electricity.
According to ward councillor, Geoff Pullan, three substations were burned out yesterday while contractors were trying to replace the main cable along the M27 (near the Balize Private Estate) – which has been the source of the original outage.
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Following the blow out, Pullan said contractors had installed a bypass from Sibaya to reconnect most of the homes until the main fault could be repaired.
The first faulty substation is located along 2nd Avenue, which had been reconnected at around 12.30am this morning.
“They redid the innards of the substation and managed to get it going. All houses connected to the substation have had their power restored,” said Pullan.
The other two faulty substations, located along South Beach Road and the M27 (near the SPAR), are in the process of being repaired.
“Contractors worked through the night and new teams have now taken over,” he said.
One of the new teams – one contractor is from Bothas Hill and the other from Cato Ridge – is currently working on the substation on South Beach Road.
“The old substation along South Beach Road was cleared yesterday afternoon and they had tried to connect it back up last night, but could not complete the installation, as the rain came down at around midnight,” he said.
The third faulty substation was being cleared this morning and Pullan said a team was standing by to reconnect the new station as soon as the old one was replaced.
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Pullan confirmed the water shortage, which has now added to the frustrations of the community, was due to the power outage.
“As the pumps do not work they can not fill up the reservoir, he explained.
He assured residents that contractors were also working on the main fault and had established where the “bad portion of the cable is”.
Pullan said the remaining repairs would take a few hours, but he was hopeful that power would be restored by the end of today (24 December).
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