During the power outage that started just after midnight on Wednesday, the fire department received several complaints of individuals being stuck in elevators and mistakenly activating fire alarms.
Soon after midnight on Wednesday, some areas of Hong Kong Island were without electricity for as long as an hour. According to the city’s Fire Services Department, there were no casualties despite 30 complaints of individuals becoming stuck in elevators, 37 instances of fake fire alarms going off, and seven reports of minor fires.
According to pictures posted online, traffic lights, street lights, and convenience shops went out in many areas, including the Central and Western areas, Southern District, Eastern District, and Wan Chai District.
Even while the majority of individuals said that their district’s power outage only lasted a few seconds, other places waited up to an hour to get their power back. According to local media sources, several people’ cellphones also suffered signal problems.
In an email to the media, Hong Kong Electric, which provides energy to Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, said that the power supply was entirely restored at 1:37 a.m. on Wednesday.
The power provider acknowledged that the supply system had malfunctioned, apologized for the inconvenience, and pledged to look into the root of the problem in the same email.
Hong Kong Electric said that since 1997, its supply dependability has remained at “over 99.999% of a world-class standard” on its website.
A representative for Hong Kong Electric urged customers to engage licensed electricians to reset any electrical equipment that was susceptible to voltage dips, such as elevators and computers.
Not all buildings were impacted similarly.
One impacted homeowner, who identified themselves as Martin, told HKFP that not all of the buildings in his neighborhood were without electricity. Only my building had an electrical outage; the majority of the residential buildings on my complex were operating normally.
Martin, a resident in Ap Lei Chau, said that the power briefly went out while he was in the shower. The electricity was abruptly shut off a short while afterwards, he said. He was able to complete his shower in the dark before awakening his mother and asking her to seek for candles. He said, however, that the internet connection was too weak for him to access discussion boards and look for data about the blackout.
“Unlike the blackout Yuen Long experienced, this one did not last as long… I didn’t experience it since I didn’t have to go at that time. Although the electricity company could pay us, it won’t matter if they don’t, Martin told HKFP.
This was Hong Kong’s second significant power outage in a year. After a fire broke out on a power line bridge in Long Ping in June of last year, almost 160,000 homes in New Territories West were left in the dark for about 13 hours.
All impacted residential customers received HK$100 vouchers to use at over 600 participating stores in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, and Tin Shui Wai as a way to “show care and express gratitude for the affected customers’ understanding,” according to CLP electricity, which provided electricity to the affected districts.
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