Power outages are the epitome of inconvenience. In lesser-developed parts of the world, where people don’t consistently have access to electricity, residents are more used to living without power. However, in better-off areas such as the United Kingdom, people are displaced further than their third-world counterparts whenever power outages take place.
Yesterday, on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019, some 14,000 households across the city of Nottingham, the 21st-largest city in all of the United Kingdom, boasting a population of roughly 330,000 people, went without power due to a malfunction of a pair of generators belonging to the National Grid, the power transmission network in Great Britain.
Further, a grand total of some 155,000 houses across the East Midlands region went without power for at least some length of time yesterday.
Here’s How The Power Problem Went Down
Around 5:00 p.m. yesterday, the two generators mentioned above failed simultaneously. As of the time of publication, it still isn’t clear, according to United Kingdom government officials, why the pair of high-powered generators went out of service. The generators stayed out of commission for roughly 90 minutes.
In addition to all of the households that were inconvenienced by the outage, one of the country’s largest train stations, King’s Cross train station in London, the capital of the United Kingdom, in the entirety of the country.
Reports show that power outages took place from London, which is located in the southeastern-most end of England, all the way to Cheshire, found near the northwest extreme of the country. Fortunately, most households only reported going out of power for no longer than a few minutes.
However, despite this, the negative impact on people traveling throughout affected areas of the United Kingdom yesterday was substantial. For example, a number of traffic lights went out of commission throughout London, making it highly difficult and dangerous for people to drive.
What made things worse for everyone who experienced the widespread power outage was that it took place just as the evening rush hour took off.
Further, what also compacted problems with the situation was the fact that a near-torrential downpour took place alongside the outage. Luton Airport, located roughly 30 miles north of London, actually experienced flooding as a result of the juxtaposition of the power outage with heavy rains. Trains flowing both out and in of St. Pancras had to stop for the remainder of the evening, as well.
Dil Bole Oberoi
