UAE | Emergencies

Power outage disconnects life in many areas of Sharjah

Outage leaves Sharjah residents, business owners in the dark again for nearly six straight hours

By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter
Published: 13:00 May 30, 2010

A power outage hits Sharjah's Industrial Area 3

Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News
A shopkeeper tries to do work with the light from a candle after a power outage hits Sharjah's Industrial Area 3.

Image 1 of 7: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Sharjah: Residents were appalled Saturday when they found themselves faced with a power outage yet again that lasted for nearly six hours straight.

In some areas the power outage lasted until 3am on Sunday, residents told Gulf News.

The power outage on Saturday affected many buildings in nearly all of the industrial areas, as well as some commercial areas including Al Maraijah, Al Nahda, Al Arouba Street, Bu Daniq area and the areas near Al Wahda Street.

Shops and supermarkets said that they lost a great deal of income in the last few days as a result of the power cut, and shopkeepers had no other choice but to write invoices and receipts by hand instead of using the cash register.

Traffic lights in Industrial Areas 3, 4, 5, and 6 also stopped functioning due to the power outage and Anjad police patrols closed off the intersections and diverted traffic, which in turn caused a heavy traffic jam for motorists heading from Dubai and into Sharjah.

Stuck in a lift

"The power went off from 1am to 3am, and then it went off again from 10am till the afternoon, and someone living in the building got stuck in the elevator," Mohsen, a resident from Al Nahda, said.

Jitendra Gupte, who lives near National Paints roundabout, said that power was disconnected from 8am to 1.15pm, and was left without any response when he called the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority hotline 991.

"Because of the electricity fluctuations I will probably go to Dubai because my family cannot keep living in such conditions. The children were unable to take a bath the whole morning and the rooms were becoming very hot," he said.

Comments (129)

Added 19:06 May 30, 2010

Although enjoyed the idea of a candle lit dinner the rise in temperature spoiled the moment. As I work in shifts it made things worse. Imagine going to work with half a bath, no ironed clothes, unkempt hair,etc. Just wondering how long will this ordeal with sewa go on !?!

Anonymous, Sharjah, India

Added 19:04 May 30, 2010

it is surely ridiculous to have such long power cuts... especially in this time of the year .. it gets extremly hot children cannot sleep...and we somehow become stranded. SEWA should definately do something about this as we cant be suffering every year... especially at the national paints it has becoms a very common thing 2-3 times a month we have power cuts, we are charged such high bills why dont we get the SERVICE??????????

suhaila , sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Added 18:13 May 30, 2010

Authorities can save lots of energy if utilizing solar to lights the streets we have 365 days sun light so would be better to use it to have enough energy to light the streets. I suggest to start establishing new company for solar we can name this company go green with solar energy environment friendly. Sharjah Solar energy co. ( solarco).

Anonymous, Sharjah, Jordan

Added 17:56 May 30, 2010

Is really to hard for me to experience this electricity cut, because since past three month move to Sarjah thing will never happend with Electricity . I see a lot of my nighbour who having kiddi cry and problem for pragnancy women do to hot summer seison. Please,, please Digtinary from Sarjah take Action for this into serius matter....still we love to stay in Sarjah,,,,,,,,,

Anonymous, Sarjah, Indonesia

Added 17:50 May 30, 2010

Hmmm, and I was actually thinking of saving a couple Dihams and moving to Sharjah... NOT anymore. Thank you Gulf News for reveling this problem, you saved me a lot of time looking for an apartment.

Rye, Dubai, Lebanon

Added 17:41 May 30, 2010

I really wonder why certain areas in Sharjah, particularly certain buildings are kept away from the power cut that has been forced upon on the other residents for more than ten hours at times? Why are the street lights kept on through out the night when there is power shortage? Is the SEWA being unfair to certain parts of the city?

Anonymous, Sharjah, Afghanistan

Added 17:23 May 30, 2010

With the power cut now we forced to stress condition as already loosing business, even small works also not able to done on time to fulfill customer satisfaction. As the power cut leads us to a huge financial tension, atleast we should know when the power will go and come, atleast we can arrange our labour to co op with the timing, now labours are coming to work & sitting idle doing nothing as no power, when the power available sometime later in the evening or night, we are requesting them to work overtime (again lose for us) if not done still sales down, after all this sales down no payment received on time, if no payment received on time not able to pay expenses and salary, if we don't pay ontime again labour will not work properly until the salary(again lose) and also not pay ontime problem in the labour department & pay hefty fine(again lose). I always see in the gulfnews that sharjah loose 15M everyday because of power shortage...who is losing??? as a business owners we are loosing not others. SEWA is charging atleast 150 Dhs. as service charge...for what??? for keeping silent, who is going to ask this unfare condition.

Anonymous, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Added 17:16 May 30, 2010

it is completer failuare on part of Sewa. every year we are faceing same problem . Iook like no one in management having clue or knowledge how to solve this problem or Sewa does not have enough to invest in infrastructure . children are having final exams and they have to study without electricity . what type of service provided by Sewa ?? Can some one from higher management can explain ?

Badar, Sharjah, Afghanistan

Added 17:14 May 30, 2010

I believe that SEWA has the capacity but the infrastructure is not enough to support the load. I have seen a lot of areas being worked upon for installing new cables. Electricity is not a luxury in UAE but a basic necessity and i request the authorities to come up with a solution which is much needed at this time of the hottest time of the year.

Anonymous, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Added 17:06 May 30, 2010

some time when we go for walk at night we surprised to see sharjah always shining with the high voltage street lights. if sewa keep one light on instead of having brunch of lights so this way could save alot of power . i would request high authorties to make a strategey how to deal with this situvation. Our best wishes are always for sharjah and other emirates

abrar, sharjah, United Arab Emirates