SUKKUR: A massive power breakdown lasting around 12 hours hit Sukkur and Khairpur districts and other areas in the region in the early hours of Tuesday. The Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) attributed the breakdown to thick fog and changing weather conditions rendering the grid stations and 11kV feeders of the area dysfunctional.

In most areas, the electricity supply was restored after 12 hours, a Sepco official said, but reports from some areas suggested that it took more time for the situation to become normal.

The entire electricity network in Sukkur and Khairpur districts collapsed at around 3am after some grid stations and feeders started collapsing about an hour earlier, reports collected from various towns and villages suggested.

People kept seeking information about the outage from local Sepco offices as well as media personnel as soon as the entire region plunged into darkness.

Sukkur and Khairpur districts experienced foggy weather conditions on the night intervening Monday and Tuesday. Poor visibility sent most vehicles off the roads and highways a little after midnight. Eventually, the electricity network also collapsed.

It would not have had a painful impact on routine life had the system been re-energised by dawn as water supply and drainage system remained non-functional in the first half of the day. Households and commercial outlets stayed without water because pumping machines did not work while sewage overflowed onto main roads and streets due to the outage.

As a result of the 12-13 hours of outage, business, commercial and trade activities in all towns of the two districts were badly affected.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2017