Underground cables were affected; stagnant water on streets caused delay in repair-work
Karachi – 2nd August, 2014: K-Electric in its press statement said that heavy winds and rain in Karachi on Saturday adversely affected its distribution network.
According to KE’s spokesperson, five out of their 63 grid stations were affected, consequently leading to tripping of 108 out of the1,375 feeders installed.
The inclement weather caused electricity cables to snap in some areas, which not only disrupted power supply but also caused a security risk. Subsequently, KE turned off its feeders in those areas in order to prevent potential accidents.
KE’s spokesperson said that it was for this reason that the utility company had always advised people to stay from electricity cables and poles during and after rainfall. He added that fallen trees had also affected the company’s system.
According to its statement, KE began repair operations as soon as rain stopped, and they managed to quickly restart all the affected feeders.
“Our rapid response teams are on alert, and they are conducting repair across the city on feeders where there main cable faults,” said KE’s spokesperson on Saturday night. “However, in many areas it’s hard to conduct repair work due to stagnant water on the streets.”
The spokesperson mentioned that the weather conditions had affected 16 out of KE’s 20,000 PMTs (pole mounted transformers), which are being currently repaired. He said that there were 22 main cable faults, out of which 19 have been fully fixed and the rest of the corrective measures would be completed by Saturday night.
“We request our customers to cooperate with KE’s team so that we can resolve all of these issues as soon as possible,” said KE’s spokesperson.