Explosion at major substation leaves Durban in darkness
An explosion at a substation in Shallcross caused a widespread power outage to about 50% of the city.
THE eThekwini municipality says electricity has been restored in most areas affected by a major power outage following a trip at its Klaarwater major substation, which left many parts of the city in the dark.
The substation, which is a key supply point to the City from Eskom tripped on Tuesday evening after an explosion at a substation in Shallcross.
In a statement City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said strong winds and lightning between 19:00 and 20:30 appeared to have been the primary cause of the faults.
So this is happening in durban tonight, substation explosion at klaatwater pic.twitter.com/DbdPI3riVR
— Vernon (@vluboya) October 11, 2022
“The City’s Electricity Unit started to restore supply on Tuesday night, area by area. This is done in a controlled and very careful sequence to limit the risk of further faults and further damage. There is unfortunately confirmed extensive damage at our Shallcross substation, which could take up to 48 hours to repair, [and] unfortunately, some customers in this area will remain off for now.
“Our teams are working around the clock to restore supply to as many customers as quickly as possible, but at this juncture, we cannot provide specifics until we have completed our inspections, which cover an extensive area of overhead HV lines from the Klaarwater area as far as Waterfall in the outer west,” the municipality said.
He added the municipality would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
