The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ABOUT 30 percent of New Providence had power restored by 6pm last night following an island-wide blackout early Monday, according to Minister of Works Desmond Bannister.

At a press conference, he explained that water likely impacted an engine at sub-station B at Bahamas Power and Light's Blue Hills Power Station causing the blackout at 3.30am. He said BPL crews worked hard to get the system back up. By 7.30am, the circuit was re-engerised only to trip immediately.

In a statement released yesterday, BPL said investigations continue into why a system fault at one of its primary substations, believed to be the result of "moisture ingress", initiated the "chain of events" that led to the outage.

The utility provider said officials are working through the aftermath of flooding in New Providence due to Hurricane Dorian, and "remain determined to safely and securely return the entire island to service".

In a previous press release, BPL said it was "confident" it had made sufficient preparation for the monster storm, and that its preparations had placed the utility provider "in good stead" as the storm approached.

At the time, BPL said it also had activities "underway" that were designed to put BPL in "a state of readiness to respond to whatever exigencies may arise".

However, various Facebook users chided BPL for its readiness, as moisture and flooding is a prominent feature in every major hurricane.

"Moisture. What in the frick frack did y'all think Dorian was bringing though? Yet y'all were ready," Abigail Rolle complained.

"BPL was prepared though…according to your statement," Edith State Treglown said. "Guess you never considered rain or moisture during a hurricane…just as prepared as we knew you were. Wow!"

Meanwhile, Dedrick R Cox, suggested that if mere "moisture ingress" from Hurricane Dorian caused an island-wide blackout, New Providence customers were fortunate the storm didn't hit the capitol straight-on.

"...Current was gone be off for three years if that storm did touch Nassau," he said.