June 10, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 9: Power supply to the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi was restored late Monday night, an official of the Iesco told Dawn.

The Wapda teams were called from Lahore and Peshawar to restore the power supply, which was distrupted due to windstorm and rain at Sunday night.

The windstorm had affected 25-30 grid stations in Rawalpindi that caused major power breakdown at 8pm.

Earlier the chief executive officer of Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco), Brig Waseem Zafar, told Dawn that the power supply to the twin cities will be restored before Monday midnight.

The power supply to Islamabad and Rawalpindi was disrupted Sunday first because of sweltering heat which caused sporadic power breakdowns and later in the night a severe storm hit the area as a result of which a high tension 220kva tower of main Sangjani grid station collapsed and snapped five 132kv lines which immediately disconnected power supply to 14 grid stations, plunging the twin cities in complete darkness.

The Met office sources in Islamabad said Sunday night’s storm was one of the worst in this area. The winds blew at a speed of 166kms per hour which resulted in the collapse of a number of huge hoardings, uprooting of big trees which further damaged overhead power cables in many areas and also blocked roads.

“Sunday night’s storm was the worst. It could be a strange coincidence that two more such storms with the same speed of 166km per hour had hit Islamabad in the past.

First such a strong storm was recorded on June 5 in 1996, the next came last year on July 29, again at a speed of 166km per hour and last night’s storm was also blowing at the same 166km per hour speed on July 9. In 1999 a storm with a speed of 158km per hour was recorded on August 11,” the Met office sources told Dawn.

Meanwhile, the windstorm uprooted billboards and trees in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The winds with thunderstorm and light rain continuted till Monday, breaking the hot spell that had gripped the twin cities for the last one week.