Power outage in Zululand after severe storm

A severe thunderstorm that hit the region on Thursday evening has left several suburbs across the City of uMhlathuze without power.

Technicians are working to fix multiple faults caused by the storm as parts of Richards Bay and Empangeni are still without electricity.

These areas include Arboretum, Mandlazini, Meerensee, Wildenweide, parts of the Richards Bay CBD and Empangeni.

For some areas, this is the second consecutive day without power, following another outage caused by Wednesday night’s storm.

“We had multiple faults across the city due to Wednesday and Thursday’s thunderstorms,” said uMhlathuze Deputy Mayor Christo Botha.

“The city’s electrical team has been working around the clock on fault finding, which is a labour-intensive operation because the problem is widespread.

“We have decided to engage contractors to assist because we want to avoid a situation where we sit for three to four days without electricity,” he said.

Botha assured residents that work is ongoing and called for patience as the city exhausts all efforts to restore supply to the affected areas.

There are also reports of a protracted power outage in St Lucia.

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