The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TOURISTS cut short their visits to downtown Nassau yesterday, with some complaining about sweltering heat in shops and saying they would have spent more money ashore had hours-long power outages not forced businesses to close or operate in darkness.

The outages, which began on Wednesday and continued into yesterday, affected areas including Shirley Street and East Street Hill.

BPL said technicians identified the problem through proactive monitoring and later discovered an additional equipment issue while trying to establish an alternate supply route through the Arawak Cay substation.

Restoration work began after noon yesterday and was expected to take between five and six hours. BPL later reported progress and apologised for the disruption.

On the ground, however, the effects were immediate.

The Tribune saw tourists shopping in darkened stores, some visibly sweating in the heat, while employees relied on portable fans and businesses without generators struggled to process sales.

Royal Caribbean passenger Amado, a Florida resident who said he had visited The Bahamas about five times before, said the outage made him less inclined to explore downtown and more eager to return to the ship.

“We don't want to explore so much,” he said. “It's so hot, you know, uncomfortable.”

He said he had never experienced conditions like that on previous visits.

“There has to be some kind of decency,” he said. “There's so many tourists over here, all these cruise ships. You should think that you know there will be resources for this.”

Another cruise passenger, Jay, from Michigan, appeared less troubled by the outage but said she felt sorry for residents dealing with repeated power problems.

“You guys work hard and deserve it,” she said.

Other visitors said the outages affected how much they were prepared to spend.

One tourist said she wished her cruise line had warned her family before they left the ship.

“It’s disappointing because it’s hot and it was already hot getting off the ship,” she said. “We were thinking we were going to be shopping in the cool so it was a big disappointment.”

For businesses, the disruption translated into lost sales and, in some cases, closure.

Ms Colebrooke, assistant manager at Luryx, estimated the store’s losses at about $5,000.

The business was among several operating in the dark without a backup generator. It remained open only because a power bank kept its wireless credit-card machine functioning.

“The only thing I would say to BPL is these are modern times and we shouldn’t be living like this,” Ms Colebrooke said. “Our business should not be operating like this.”

She said the effect was particularly troubling in a tourism district where cruise ships arrive daily.

“We have cruise ships in the port every day even if its just one so could you imagine the impact it is having,” she said. “The tourists are going to talk about it because they’re coming in here asking us what happened.”

Employees at souvenir shops also complained about lost commissions after card machines stopped working.

“The only way we can only take funds if it’s cash,” one employee said. “It’s a big problem because you know most tourists come with they card. They cost us a lot of money this morning because they have a lot of ships out there that brings us our income.”

Some business owners also faced the cost of bringing down shutters to close their stores, with more than $100 reportedly spent in some cases.

Several shops and restaurants shut altogether, posting notices on their doors. Some businesses also reported damage to generators during the outage.

Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant was among those forced to close and discard food to prevent spoilage.

The disruption comes amid a bruising summer for BPL marked by repeated blackouts, load shedding and growing public frustration.

The utility has attributed recent problems to a range of faults and pressures across the system, including cable failures, overloaded transformers, tripped feeders and breakers, damaged power lines, high temperatures and unusually high electricity demand.