Emergency crews from the Barbados Light and Power are feverishly working to restore to power to homes across the island after the passing of Tropical Storm Tomas, later ugraded to a hurricane when it passed Barbados.
Managing Director of the Barbados Light and Power Peter Williams, noted that electricity supply to most of Barbados was interrupted as the storm lashed Barbados with high winds during Friday night and early this morning.
“The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited was able to maintain supply throughout the storm to some customers, including service to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and other critical facilities. However, the severity of the storm resulted in significant damage to the overhead electricity network, causing widespread outages. The winds, gusting in excess of 70 mph, brought down trees across the high voltage lines and blew galvanised sheets and other debris into the lines,” he said in a statement earlier today.
Williams said that as soon as the all clear was given for emergency services, their teams started to patrol the overhead lines and carry out a damage assessment. Distribution crews started repair work early this morning and continued working through tonight under continuing difficult weather conditions.
He said that by this evening, supply had been restored to a few areas, with many areas still awaiting restoration of supply.
“The Company has identified the worst affected areas and anticipates that it will take several days for supply to be restored to these areas. These include South District, St George; Providence, Christ Church; Newcastle, St. John; and between Sunset Crest and Porters, St. James. In other areas, supply will be restored as soon as possible,” he said.
He urged the public to put safety first and not to try and clear fallen power lines.
“Light & Power understands that customers would be anxious to have their power restored as quickly as possible and wishes to assure them that the Company is working assiduously to restore supply to the entire island. In addition, the Company recognises that many customers would have been unable to get through to its emergency number due to the large volume of calls that it has received. Light & Power wishes to thank everyone for their patience and understanding in these very difficult circumstances,” he added.
