A traffic policeman regulating traffic in Kuching to ensure smooth and safe traffic flow. — Photos by Joanna Yap
KUCHING: The southern and central parts of Sarawak experienced a major outage from 1.30 to 3.30pm yesterday.
Areas affected included Kuching, Sibu, Kapit, Sarikei, Bintagor, Sri Aman, Serian and Selangau while areas in the northern part of the state such as Miri and Bintulu were unaffected.
In town centres of Kuching and Sibu, within the two-hour power breakdown, traffic lights at all intersections ceased to function, leading to chaotic traffic flow in the towns.
Mobile patrol vehicles and traffic police were immediately deployed to direct traffic flow.
In Sibu, local police chief ACP Mohd Kamal Kordi, when contacted, said they received many calls from members of the public.
“We have four MPVs, and we mobilised our resources on the ground to tackle the situation,” said Mohd Kamal.
Situation returned to normal shortly after power resumed. The police did not receive any report of accident, he added.
By 3.30pm, power had already been restored in all affected areas. Telephone lines, however, continued to remain disconnected until 3.50pm.
The trip caused internet services in affected areas to either slow down or come to a complete standstill.
Meanwhile, according to a statement from Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), the outage occurred at 1.31pm when the Oya-Selangau 275kV transmission line tripped, causing loss of power supply from Bakun to the affected areas.
“Restoration works commenced immediately after the trip and power supply was restored progressively with parts of Sibu being the first to come back online. Restoration to almost all affected areas was completed within two hours.
“The investigation into the root cause of the outage is still on-going,” said the statement.
To ensure better efficiency and future reliability of the system, SEB is making a major investment in the 500kV backbone transmission project which is expected to be completed by mid next year.