August 23, 2004
MANAMA, Bahrain -- The power went off across Bahrain on Monday because of a technical fault, slowing business, hitting U.S. Navy operations and leaving people without air conditioning in the heat and humidity of the Persian Gulf.
Bahrain, home to some 600,000 people, often runs out of power in the summer, but an outage as widespread and long-lasting as Monday's was rare.
A spokeswoman for the electricity department blamed a "technical fault" in a distribution control facility located just outside Manama. She said technicians were working to gradually restore power over several hours. Some parts of Bahrain were reporting electricity was back starting about four hours after the outage began at about 8:30 a.m., but many others were still without power in the early evening.
Police were deployed to major intersections to fill in for traffic lights, but cars still sat bumper-to-bumper throughout the city and a spate of minor accidents was reported. Firefighters were dispatched to rescue people stuck in the elevators of high-rise buildings.
Lt. Bill Speaks, spokesman for the Bahrain-headquartered U.S. 5th Fleet, said the Navy experienced a "short blip" without power before turning to generators for essential services.
Temperatures soared by midday to about 130 F when wind and humidity is factored in. Bahrainis sought relief by driving in circles in their air-conditioned cars. Some fled to shopping malls, hospitals, airport lounges and other places that had enough auxiliary power to run air conditioners -- until such facilities began to feel overwhelmed.
"We cannot work if people keep gathering here," said Valsalan, a doctor at Manama's Salmaniya Medical Complex who goes by one name only. "This is a hospital, not a hotel."
Essa Amin, a 57-year-old historian, recalled that when air conditioning was first introduced here in the 1950s, Bahrainis had to get government permission to install a unit because they used so much power.
He said his generation grew up coping with the heat and humidity, but "I'm sure it's very difficult for the new generation."
Tempers as well as temperatures were high.
"I'm really angry. This problem doesn't seem to end," said Hasan Mohamed, a 25-year-old delivery van driver waiting in line at a gas station. "I hope somebody is held responsible for all this."
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-bahrain-power-outage,0,6565705,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines