COIMBATORE: More than 150 houses at Shankar Nagar near Mettupalayam went without power for more than three hours as strong wind and rain brought down three electricity poles on Saturday night Power supply was restored to a few houses at midnight and the repair work was completed on Sunday evening.
Karamadai and Mettupalayam witnessed heavy downpours and gusty winds on Saturday evening. The wind caused huge damage to the public properties on Mettupalayam - Sirumugai Road especially in the Shankar Nagar. A tree fell on an electricity pole, which resulted in three more electric poles falling and causing a blackout in a one-kilometre area.
“Around 180 house supplies were affected. Immediately we brought personnel to resume the power supply. Within three hours from neighbouring areas and restored the supply to 150 connections. The remaining connections were restored on Sunday evening,” said an official from Tangedco.
In another incident, a four-pole DP switching unit which connects four feeders from Marudhur and Mathampalayam power houses fell on the ground near Kottai Pirivu on Saturday evening. The work of re-installation of the unit was under way on Sunday evening.
K Kuppurani, chief engineer of the Tangedco Coimbatore said they faced massive breakdowns only in Mettupalayam due to the gusty winds. Other than that a few minor breakdowns were reported in Udumalpet and Nilgiris and they were fixed immediately. “We have formed sub-division level teams to handle the technical breakdowns caused by the monsoon, across the district,” the chief engineer said.