By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 13 May 2016:
High winds brought down an electricity pylon in Tripoli’s residential Hadba district yesterday, crushing several cars. . . .[restrict]No one was injured, however.
It is thought that the incident was in part responsible for the major power outage in much of the capital during the day. Large parts of the city was without electricity for 15 hours. The state electricity company, GECOL, usually quick to provide information on what is happening, has not done so and today, being Friday, no phones were being answered.
Yesterday, though, it had warned that rising temperatures might result in power cuts because of a hike in air-conditioners use.
These practical reasons for the power cuts have not stopped the rumour mill in Tripoli spreading suggestions that the outages had been caused by politicians of one persuasion or another – the Zintanis, the Presidency Council, Islamists, Misratans, Qaddafi-supporters or anyone who the complainant dislikes – or alternatively by sellers of domestic power generators.
“I have an information from a friend working in Misrata port that 100,00 home generators have arrived in the port and merchants are colluding with officials at GECOL to force people to buy their products by forcing them to live in the dark,” one firmly convinced Tripoli resident confidently told the Libya Herald this afternoon.
The weather, though, has been bizarre, with several seasons in a day. In addition to the soaring temperatures plus the high winds, there have been major downpours as well as ghiblis (sand storms) and even snow outside Misrata.
This together with the power cuts and the lack of cash in the banks has added to the nervousness and lack of confidence in much of the west of the country at present. [/restrict]
