NAWABSHAH: It took the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) over 40 hours to restore power supply to Nawabshah, Sakrand, Daur, Shahpur Chakar and other towns and villages after its network collapsed due to Thursday afternoon’s windstorm, which had left a trail of damage in four districts.

A senior Hesco official said on Saturday that the damage caused to the electricity network was extensive and widespread; and many teams of the power utility had to work round-the-clock to rehabilitate the system.

The powerful windstorm, which was followed by thunderstorm and back-to-back spells of rain, had hit most areas of Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushahro Feroze, Dadu and Jamshoro districts, blowing away rooftops of countless thatched houses, hoardings, billboards and solar plates, besides uprooting a number of trees and playing havoc with the Hesco system.

Hesco describes damage caused to network and system extensive, widespread

The power utility said that high-velocity winds razed as many as seven pylons, carrying high-tension cables, and scores of poles to ground within the affected region. It said the collapse of towers, poles and transformers had actually caused the massive power breakdown as more than 70 feeders had been affected.

The over 40-hour power outage added to the miseries of people who have already been enduring extremely hot and humid weather conditions for a couple of weeks. The breakdown led to the closure of ice factories and supply of beverages to people depriving them of any respite as their domestic refrigerators and deep freezers also remained dysfunction. The outage also caused a shortage of drinking water as pumping stations and domestic water pumps could not be operated.

It was only at 11am on Saturday that most areas of Nawabshah city and smaller towns of the district could be re-energised by Hesco teams.

People heaved a sigh of relief after enduring 40 hours of outage amid hot and humid weather conditions.

Sadiq Kuber, media manager of Hesco, told Dawn on Saturday that the rehabilitation work was completed within the Friday evening deadline set by CEO Roshan Otho but the system suffered hiccups due to local faults as soon as it was re-energised. The teams at work had to prolong their struggle in order to rectify local faults all along the transmission network, he added.

Protest over incomplete work

While a few local faults were yet to be rectified, residents of thickly populated Manu Abad, Essa Pura and some other localities took to the streets after losing patience upon realising that power supply was restored barring their areas.

They waited for a few more hours, i.e. till around 5pm, after the system was energised but finally marched up to the overhead bridge near market and blocked the thoroughfare with burning tyres and junk.

They raised slogans against Hesco and demanded immediate restoration of power supply.Later, police arrived and dispersed the protesters to clear the road.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2024