Karachi experiences wide-scale power outage

Karachi experienced a wide-scale power breakdown on Wednesday with most parts of the provincial capital reporting the outage due to a technical fault in the grid transmission line, confirmed the power utility.

As per details, several localities including Saddar, MA Jinnah Road, Malir Cantonment, KDA, Defence, Clifton, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Nazimabad, among others reported the power outage.

The outage was caused after the extra high tension (EHT) transmission line in Sindh's Jamshoro district tripped.

In a tweet after the outage was reported, K-Electric (KE) said that it has been receiving reports of interruption in power supply from some parts of the port city. "Technical fault in the 500 KV National Grid transmission line has impacted power supply to parts of Sindh including Karachi," KE tweeted.

"We are actively monitoring the situation and will keep updating this space," the power utility company said. The statement added that KE teams are also in contact with National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) teams to expedite the process of restoring power.

As of 7:40pm, KE said that more than 800 of the 1,900 feeders were offline.

"Restoration efforts are swiftly underway. Supply to all grids has been normalised and feeder level restoration is underway. Power supply to Karachi is continuing through nearly 1107 feeders out of 1900 with strategic locations including Dhabeji Water Pumping Station and Karachi Airport also powered up.

"Parts of PECHS, Korangi, Surjani, Gulistan-e-Johar, Clifton, Federal B Area, Shah Faisal have also been restored. We continue to work actively to restore power to the city," it added.

Meanwhile, citizens took to Twitter venting their frustration amid rising humidity in the city.

Reports of rain across the city

The power outage coincides with sporadic rain reported across the city. Sindh's Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had earlier issued an alert for heavy rain and thunderstorm in the province from August 31.

PDMA issues rain-thunderstorm warning in Karachi from Sept 1

In its notification, the PDMA had said that monsoons currents of moderate intensity were likely to penetrate into Sindh from August 31. "Under the influence of this weather system, rain-thunderstorm with occasional gusty winds likely to occur Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar districts from August 31 night to September 3," the notification said.

The notification further said that rain-thunderstorm with occasional gusty winds will likely occur in Karachi, including other districts during September 1 and September 3.

The authority advised all concerned authorities to remain alert during the forecast period and arrange necessary inventory and other essentials at vulnerable locations.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has also predicted that Karachi would receive more rain as compared to last year.