Traffic chaos in RAK after four-hour blackout

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Traffic chaos in RAK after four-hour blackout
Al Nakheel power station, RAK

Ras Al Khaimah - The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah has seen a big traffic chaos after the traffic lights at four major intersections were down due to an unexpected power failure.

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Published: Tue 3 Nov 2015, 12:11 PM

Last updated: Tue 3 Nov 2015, 3:48 PM

The four-hour blackout, reported at four busy areas, including Al Nakheel city, Al Ghib, Al Hudaiba, and part of Shaml residential zone, posed a grave risk to patients of the Obaidullah Hospital which experienced the same outage.
The power failure was attributed to a sudden breakdown in a main electric cable of the Al Nakheel power station, according to an official with the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA).   Mohammed Khalil Al Shamsi, Director of Corporate Communications - FEWA, said the emergency teams of the authority, alerted of the power cut, rushed to the site.
"It was a normal technical failure and the faulty cable was removed whereas the electricity was restored gradually to the four major areas in a record time."
"The Obaidullah Hospital has also turned on a power generator to produce the electricity needed for the necessary medical devices."
Col Ahmed Saeed Al Sam Al Naqbi, head of traffic engineering at the traffic and patrols department, RAK Police, said they deployed traffic patrols at the affected areas to control traffic flow there.
"The intersections of Al Nakheel, Hilton, Al Manar, and Shaml areas saw heavy traffic due to the breakdown of the traffic signals there as a result of the sudden blackout."
The traffic patrols deployed there have helped curb traffic congestion and prevent any accidents at these busy areas, he added. "Not a single traffic accident was reported during the power outage."
Few days back, the Shaml area to the north east of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah suffered a long power outage of nine straight hours after an electric wooden pole caught fire.
The short circuit and pole fire led to a massive power cut in so many houses at the historic Shaml area where the UAE nationals and citizens suffered the sweltering temperatures for a long period.
It took some time to fix the power disruption and recover electricity to the area owing to the big damage caused by the fire in both the wooden pole and the power supplies.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com


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