Residents in 15 areas of the eThekwini Municipality have been left without electricity after strong winds on Saturday afternoon damaged overhead electricity infrastructure and caused power outages.
The eThekwini Municipality’s Electricity and Energy Directorate said on Sunday that it was attending to a number of outages following the strong winds across the city.
“Most of the outages occurred on overhead medium-voltage (OHM) circuits, which are particularly vulnerable to strong winds.”
“Tree branches and other flying objects, including roof sheets, can damage overhead electricity infrastructure and result in outages,” the municipality said.
The strong winds have left residents in 15 areas of the metro without electricity.
According to the city, affected areas include Baphehli, Folweni, Amaoti, Waterloo, Moriah, Klaarwater, Savannah Park, Inanda, Gunjini, Redcliffe, Malukazi, KwaNdengezi, Clermont, Umlazi C and Thornwood, among others.
“Technical teams worked through the night and supply has since been restored to a number of affected communities,” the municipality said.
It said teams remained deployed and were working to clear the outstanding backlog and restore electricity to the remaining affected areas.
The municipality said restoring power could take time because switching staff and technical teams first had to inspect affected overhead line circuits to identify the cause of the fault.
“Once the fault has been located, teams may need to carry out the necessary repairs before supply can be safely restored.”
The city said it acknowledges the inconvenience caused by the outages and thanked affected customers for their patience.
“The municipality assures residents that teams are attending to faults and working to restore electricity supply as safely and efficiently as possible.”
The city called on residents and customers to stay clear of fallen or damaged electricity infrastructure and report related incidents immediately through the municipality’s official electricity fault reporting channels.
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