Saba News News and Information from Saba Island, Dutch Caribbean
Saba experienced an island-wide blackout in the early morning hours of Wednesday after what Saba Electric Company (SEC) described as “unprecedented lightning storms throughout the night”.
At least one bolt touched down in a residential area during the overnight hours, which was captured on a social media video that was shared widely Wednesday morning.
SEC later confirmed on Facebook that lightning had damaged equipment. The government-owned company did not disclose the specific equipment or the extent of the damage.
Some residents reported that the blackout lasted roughly between 3:00 and 6:30am, while some areas, such as Mountain Road, were still off at 9:00am. SEC’s team restored electricity to all parts of the island by 10:30am. Saba’s government closed schools and day-care “due to the heavy rain, thunderstorms, and island-wide electricity instability”, and urged non-essential workers to stay off the roads. Residents were also advised to unplug electrical devices.
Fort Bay harbour was closed until 9:00am after the severe weather, delaying the weekly cargo ship “Mutty’s Pride” from being offloaded. The airport remained open but the government advised passengers to contact their airline for information about cancellations or delays.
Government offices were initially closed for the day, but authorities announced around 9:00am that offices would open at 10:30am, “though services may be limited”.
Just before 10:30am, the government changed direction, saying offices would indeed be closed for the day “due to a system being down, currently preventing the continuation of normal day-to-day operations”.
Wednesday was Saba’s second island-wide blackout this week, the first on the day before. That one was not associated with lightning, with SEC saying on social media that it had “an unexpected equipment failure at our power plant”.
The Daily Herald.
