City Power in ‘disaster mode’ as it battles outages caused by devastating Joburg storms

City Power electricity infrastructure has been severely impacted by the devastating thunderstorms and heavy downpours, plunging several areas in darkness.

City Power said it is monitoring the flooding that is happening in most of the southern and western regions of Johannesburg, which may delay its response times and repairs.

High alert

Spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the City’s Disaster Management has issued a warning, placing teams on high alert following the heavy rains this week.

“As City Power we have been in disaster mode since the heavy thunderstorms on Monday, and the rains last night have exacerbated the situation, making our recovery efforts difficult.”

“We are still dealing with huge backlogs in different parts of the City of Johannesburg, with outage calls this morning sitting close to 4 000. Half of those calls are over 24hrs, with areas such as Hurthill, Randburg, Roodepoort and Lenasia heavily affected,” Mangena said.

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Accessibility

Mangena said while most of the trees blocking electricity infrastructure have been cleared, it is monitoring and attending to the integrity of equipment across the City.

“These include the flooded chambers, submerged minisub stations, washed up poles, eroded cables and cable faults with some popping in the aftermath of the heavy storms. Heavy rains of yesterday made matters worse in areas such as Lenasia and Roodepoort where there is huge flooding currently.”

Outages

“A minisub station exploded after it got flooded along Peacock Avenue in Lenasia, leaving residents without power. We can only attend to it after the water has subsided. Many others are submerged, some poles and over headlines blown. Water also seeped through into the vandalised infrastructures, tripping in some areas,” Mangena said.

He said roads around Klipspruit, Florida, Lenasia and some parts of Roodepoort are flooded making it difficult for City Power teams to respond urgently to the outages in affected areas.

“We are anticipating that it will take us over a week to recover – weather allowing – with most of the problems expected to be picked up as the storms clear up.”

Recovery efforts

“Our recovery efforts are also thwarted by load shedding now sitting at higher stages, which has really taken a huge toll on our infrastructure, resources and revenue,” Mangena said.

Mangena said City Power has roped in additional resources to assist in its efforts.

“We have pulled in all available resources to deal with backlogs caused by load shedding and storms, and we appeal to our customers for patience and co-operation as we deal with the challenges and ensure minimal interruptions to their power supply.”

“We are working alongside the councillors and other authorities within the City, and we will continue to update the residents on the developments in their respective areas,” Mangena said.

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