Storm causes massive blackout in Manado

Storm causes massive blackout in Manado

Jongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post, Manado, North Sulawesi

A storm that hit Manado in the past few days has incapacitated
some 50 percent of the total 117 megawatt installed electricity
capacity in the city, leading to a massive blackout here, an
official said on Saturday.

"The bad weather has paralyzed between 50 megawatt and 60
megawatt of installed electricity capacity in the city and its
surrounding areas," Andreas Heru Sumaryanto, the head of state
electricity company PT PLN's Manado branch, was quoted as saying
by Antara news agency.

Heru said that the torrential rain that occurred in the North
Sulawesi capital of Manado from Thursday to Saturday, had toppled
many trees throughout the city.

The trees fell onto power lines and dragged down many
electricity poles in Manado and its surrounding areas, he said.
As a result, the incident has caused massive outages in the area.

As the storm largely subsided on Saturday, Heru said that his
office started to deploy 10 teams of PLN employees to tackle the
damage.

He said that the teams had restored electricity in some areas,
but they had to work harder to restore electricity in many other
areas.

Perkamil district in Manado was one of the areas that had
power reconnected on Saturday.

The storm hit Manado and its surrounding areas on Thursday,
ruining several houses and 14 cafes in the Bahu Mall business
district in the city.

Fortunately, no fatalities were reported in the incident.

Manado was not the only area in North Sulawesi province that
was hit by the storm. The storm had also reportedly hit South
Minahasa regency in the province, some 50 kilometers south of
Manado.

"The storm has badly damaged 15 homes, but no fatalities were
reported in the incident," Frany, an official at the regency
administration, told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Meanwhile, as of Saturday, authorities in Manado had lifted
the storm warning for boats or ships cruising in the area, as
storm had subsided.

Brury Rantung, an official at Manado seaport, said that his
office allowed on Saturday three passenger ships to depart from
the seaport to Talaud and Tamako, two other cities in the
province. They were the Maria Queen, Valentine I and the
Victoria.

The seaport authority allowed them to sail, after waves
subsided to one meter high on average on Saturday morning, he
said. Waves reached two meters to three meters on Thursday and
Friday, when the storm struck Manado.

"Although the storm has subsided, the ships' crews have to
remain vigilant. They are advised to cruise in waters near the
shore, so that they can seek safety if the storm strikes again,"
he said.