South Africa: Thousands Left Without Power As Severe Weather Hits Western Cape

Thousands of residents in the Western Cape Province of Cape Town, South Africa, are still without power due to the strong winds and heavy rain in the area over the long weekend.

A statement issued by the power utility company, Eskom, on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, said approximately 15 000 customers across the province were still without power.

Eskom said it had intensified efforts to restore electricity supply to customers and had significantly reduced the number of those without electricity.

On Monday, more than 82 000 Eskom customers across the province were without power due to the devastating storm that caused destruction to the electricity network.

“Thanks to the courageous efforts of Eskom teams who worked through the night and who are still out in the field, only 15 000 customers are currently without power,” Eskom said.

Areas still affected are Caledon, Greyton, Grabouw, Jagersbos, Kraaifontein, Worcester, Somerset West and surrounding areas, as well as parts of Khayelitsha.

“With more favourable weather conditions ahead, Eskom technicians are aiming to restore electricity supply to all customers who were affected due to the inclement weather as soon as possible,” Eskom said.

Eskom urged the remaining affected customers to continue to remain patient and apologised for any inconvenience.

Speaking to South Africa- based News24, Beverley van Reenen, who is the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for energy, said they had experienced many calls concerning electricity.

“This is due to storm-related damage; teams are doing their best to assist as fast as possible. Teams are attending to storm-related outages in Philippi, Gugulethu, Eastridge, Steenberg, Wetton, Bellville, Plattekloof, and Green Point,” she said.

Van Reenen added that storm-related damage usually led to area outages, and restoration times were unfortunately affected by damaged infrastructure and stormy weather.

Source: httsp://energynewsafrica.com