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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Most of the outages occurred on overhead medium-voltage (OHM) circuits, which are particularly vulnerable to strong winds.”<\/p>\n
“Tree branches and other flying objects, including roof sheets, can damage overhead electricity infrastructure and result in outages,” the municipality said.<\/p>\n
The strong winds have left residents in 15 areas of the metro without electricity.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Technical teams worked through the night and supply has since been restored to a number of affected communities,” the municipality said.<\/p>\n
It said teams remained deployed and were working to clear the outstanding backlog and restore electricity to the remaining affected areas.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Once the fault has been located, teams may need to carry out the necessary repairs before supply can be safely restored.”<\/p>\n
The city said it acknowledges the inconvenience caused by the outages and thanked affected customers for their patience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe municipality assures residents that teams are attending to faults and working to restore electricity supply as safely and efficiently as possible.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n