MAKKAH — A Makkah residential area has remained without electricity for more than 24 hours, driving residents out of their houses to look for cool air elsewhere or use candles for lighting, Makkah daily reported on Wednesday. The power cut in the Al-Mikwar residential area in Al-Mansour District also led to various food products in grocery shops getting spoiled. The residents said they requested the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to send maintenance teams to restore power but there was no response. They said they had to rush to shops to buy candles to light their homes. Some residents said they had to go with their friends and relatives in other areas of the holy city to be able to operate medical equipment for their sick relatives. Others said they had to collect money to transport a number of patients suffering from kidney failure or respiratory problems to other areas with power. Bakar Hawsawi, Hussain Mohammed and Abdou Hazzazi said they were not able to sleep the whole night because the air-conditioners were dead. Mustapha Ahmed said the situation was particularly painful to him because he just came out of the hospital after a surgical operation in his back. He said he had a small generator that he had donated to another sick neighbor and could not take it back from him. Yacoub Mohammed, an expatriate worker in a grocery, said all the meat, chicken, vegetables and other food he was keeping in the fridge were spoiled. "The cut was sudden and unexpected. The electricity company promised to restore the power shortly but it did not," he said. An official source at the SEC said the power cut was caused by excavations and demolishing work in the nearby neighborhoods. He also said a number of cables were stolen by thieves. The official said work is going on to restore the power to the area as soon as possible.
