Lightning causes power outage

Accra, Oct. 5, GNA - The Volta River Authority (VRA) said a series of severe lightning and thunder activity during a heavy downpour at Akosombo and its environs on Tuesday caused a surge in the power system around 13:11 hours resulting in total loss of power. It said in a statement issued in Accra by the Public Relations Unit that investigations revealed that the lightning caused the tripping of 10 out of the 12 out-going transmission lines at the Akosombo switchyard.

"Consequently, all the generating stations (Akosombo, Kpong and Aboadze) got affected leading to the tripping of all the running generators."

The statement said there was no damage to any of the generators and, therefore, power was restored between 14:30 hours and 15:37 hours the same day.

"As a force majeure, such occurrences cannot be prevented, but we assure the general public that adequate measures are in place to prevent damage to the facilities and also minimize the effect of such occurrences on power supply," the statement said.