The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Power system, cellphone networks affected in city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 28, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Power system, cellphone networks affected in city

Special Correspondent

EB shuts off sub-stations, feeders in several areas

CHENNAI: Power blackouts were reported from several parts of the city starting Wednesday night as the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board shut off some of its feeders and sub-stations as a safety measure.

Though it darkened homes in neighbourhoods during a day which saw very little sunlight, the power shut-down helped avoid casualties in the form of electrocution.

Senior officials of the board told The Hindu that the floodwater entered many substations and flooded the cable ducts. At other places, strong surface winds threatened to pull down and in some places actually pulled down, overhead power lines, including those carrying HT supply. The supply to these feeders were also switched off as a precautionary measure.

"As we started receiving reports of flooding, and over head lines threatening to collapse, we began cutting off supply. In a few sub stations, the water entered the cable ducts and these could have lead to heavy leakage, which could threaten lives.

These were also switched off... but during the day, when we found the flood water receding we started restoring supply slowly," said an official, in charge of operations and maintenance.

Chennai has about 125 sub-stations of various capacity, of which 25 - 30 faced problems.

Reports of power shutdown in Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Ayanavaram, Villivakkam as well as Mandaveli, T.Nagar, Ashok Nagar, K.K. Nagar, Perambur and Vyasarpadi, poured in.

Residents said that in many places rainwater entered their homes. In Choolaimedu, the Cooum river overflowed into darkened homes in Gandhi and Kasturbhai streets.

Rumour spreads panic

There were reports that mischief mongers spread rumours of mass deaths due to electrocution prompting anxious calls to newspaper offices.

The power shutdown also led to communication breakdowns.

Many residents said their mobile and cordless telephones could not be recharged

The inter-connectivity between landlines and mobile phones was also affected due to increased traffic and some of the mobile networks remained inaccessible to callers from other networks.

Internet connectivity was also hit.

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