Power breakdown: Light drizzle trips power grid

Most parts of city without electricity supply for up to nine hours

KARACHI:

In the aftermath of mild drizzle that graced parts of the city early on Friday morning, a majority of city areas were plunged into darkness.

The electricity breakdown started at 5am in many areas and 7am in others. Power was not restored until after noon. The affected areas included Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, Bath Island, PECHS, Saddar,  Korangi, Jamshed Road, Mehmooadabad, Manzoor Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Federal B Area, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, North Karachi, Lyari, SITE, Baldia Town, Banaras, Qasba and Metroville.

"The major power breakdown in Karachi is an alarming situation for people of Karachi before upcoming heat wave," said a worried resident, Najeebullah.

Danish Zahid, an owner of a printing press near Pakistan Chowk, said they were forced to rely on their generators for four hours due to the breakdown.



Majida Zahid, a mother of two kids, complained she had to get her children ready for school in the dark. "We had to walk down six flights of stairs as the elevator stopped working," she said.

Tahir Ali, owner of a saw machine factory in Ibrahim Hyderi, was saved from the aftermath of the power breakdown as all factories in the area take a day off on Fridays. He was, nevertheless, worried how the electricity system will fare during the summer months.

According to a press statement issued by the city's electricity utility K-Electric (KE), some grid stations were affected due to 'Extra High Tension' tripping and that led to power disruption. KE spokesperson Adil Murtaza said, however, he did not know what caused the high-tension wires to trip. "There is a technical reason behind it," he told The Express Tribune.

More than 50% of the KE's 64 grid stations were affected when the high-tension line tripped, he said. However, this figure was revised later by KE chief marketing and communications officer Fakhar Ahmed. He said that only 19 of their grid stations were affected.

"The 500KV Guddu-Dadu circuit transmission line tripped due to mild rain and humidity factor," said Ahmed, insisting that their system will be able to resist the upcoming rain in the city. Ahmed called Friday's breakdown 'partial' and said that KE has evolved its system to avoid future breakdowns.

The KE team urged its consumers to remain calm and apologised if the breakdown caused any inconvenience.

Rain that never came

Meanwhile, the residents of Karachi woke up to a bright sunny day instead of the rainfall forecasted earlier. According to Pakistan Meteorological Office, the rain system moved towards Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

"There was a light drizzle at around 8:30am in different parts of the city, such as University Road, Gulshan-e-Hadeed and Airport," said Abdul Rashid, the focal person of the met office in Karachi. "There isn't any more forecast for rain," he said.

The mild drizzle did however create a beautiful rainbow over Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2016.