Power cut left thousands on Saaremaa without electricity Friday
A major power outage left nearly half of Kuressaare without electricity early Friday morning, leaving around 3,500 customers in the dark, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.
While storm damage is normally to blame for power cuts on the island and elsewhere in Estonia, this time short circuiting cables in conditions of spring snowmelt was to blame.
The outages mainly affected Kuressaare, the island's capital.
Gunnar Havi, crisis preparedness advisor for Saaremaa Rural Municipality, said: "Almost half of the city was affected in Kuressaare."
Other vital services in the town, population a little over 13,000, remained online, Havi said.
"Providers of essential municipal services were supplied with electricity, so there were no major issues to that end. The water supply functioned."
"Some pumps in the sewage system were not operational, but this did not have a significant impact that would have required limiting water supply. Schools were open, kindergartens operated, though some were initially without power, but meals were still prepared," he added.
However, businesses and residents across the affected areas faced disruptions, with some waiting hours for the power to be restored.
Elektrilevi attributed the outage to a failure in three older underground cables, which had short-circuited in conditions of spring thaw.
Ott Pukk, head of Elektrilevi's control center, said: "When the season of melting snow and high water levels arrives, the cables experience greater strain, and weaker points may break, causing a short circuit that triggers our automation system."
"It can transpire that one cable breaks somewhere, and then, in a chain reaction, it affects a couple of other weaker spots," Havi went on.
He added that additional network problems were caused by the failure of a switch.
This meant repair crews had to work throughout Friday to put right the damage.
Most of the failures were resolved only by the evening, though monitoring and preventive measures may still be needed to avoid future issues.
Elektrilevi's outages map, updated in real time, was showing no power cuts for Kuressaare and Saaremaa generally as of Saturday morning.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merili Nael
Source: "Aktuaalne kaamera," reporter Margus Muld.
