Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — A lengthy power outage on Friday left residents of towns and villages in several governorates of the Makkah region in the dark. The outage started at 1 p.m. and affected all of Dhahban, Thuwal, Asfan, Khulais and Al-Kamil governorates along with other locations. A number of residents said the blackout continued for almost 24 hours. The outage saw various grocery stores lose their refrigerated stock. The incident also forced many residents to seek temporary shelters, as all services that depended on electricity, including communications and gas stations, stopped working. A number of residents intend to sue for damages. Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has ordered an inquiry into the incident. Some 250 technicians got to work, erecting temporary generators and cables, while other teams busied themselves with the investigation. The electricity company said that early indicators suggest that the thunderstorms that have recently hit the region may be responsible. Abdolmoein Al-Sheikh, head of the electricity company in the western sector, said the incident marks a first in the history of the company. "Never before had such large generators failed," he said. The power supply has been restored to the region by connecting Khulais to the main electricity grid and installing 50 temporary generators. Al-Sheikh said at the time of their power failure the two main generators were operating at only 20 percent capacity. "These facts suggest that overload or poor maintenance were not the real culprits. Bad weather is likely responsible," he said.
