A massive explosion at a major substation in Klaarwater on Tuesday evening left households with no power for hours. eThekwini municipality said that about 50% were left in the dark.
Videos sent to SA Trucker show the startling explosion in the distance before surrounding areas were plunged into darkness.
Spokesperson Musawenkosi Mayisela said the municipality was investigating the cause of the “trip” at the substation, which was a crucial supply point to the city from Eskom.
⚠️#PowerOutageUpdate ⚠️
An explosion at the 275kv Klaarwater major substation caused widespread power outage to about 50% of areas in #Durban
Areas in the Northern, Western and Southern regions of the City are still without power.
— eThekwini Municipality (@eThekwiniM) October 11, 2022
The municipality urged residents “not to panic” as technicians were attending to the scene.
It’s not the first time, in 2018 and 2019, the same substation experienced similar issues.
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In the 2018 incident, a transformer caught alight at the 275-kilovolt substation, and the following year, suburbs of Chatsworth, Pinetown, and greater Queensburgh were left in the dark after the substation exploded.
Meanwhile, power has been restored in most of the areas affected by the major outage this follows a swift response by the City’s Electricity Unit to multiple power outages caused by the explosion out at the Klaarwater electricity substation which is a key supply point to the City from Eskom.
Half of Durban households thrown into darkness after explosion at Klaarwater substation https://t.co/rPj1nvdDb7 pic.twitter.com/FKKvgLFV6V
— SA Trucker (@rsa_trucker) October 12, 2022
