Cyprus - Power Cuts

PompeyPete

People travelling to Cyprus (south) in the near future might not be aware that there was a catestrophic explosion on Monday morning near Limassol. 12 people were killed in the explosion, and there is one heck of an aftermath, including widespread power-cuts.

Below is a current thread from www.cyprusliving.com which is doing it's best to keep up to date with the information being issued by the authorities.....

http://www.cyprusliving.org/phpbb/nfphpbb/viewtopic.php?t=34167

Anyone wanting to read more about the explosion and it's knock-on effects might want to read this...

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/

There are a lot of understandably unhappy folk out there in the eastern Med at the moment!

Alias_Omega

Pete,

Were all happy.


The incident was caused by a bush fire that spread into the naval base. This spread into a weapons compound which in turn ignited the weapons.

The incident is no where near any of the tourist areas, and is in between governors beach and Lemesos (Limassol).

Meanwhilst, with the damage to the power station. The powerstation is offline. Its the largest of the 3 stations on the island, which the island is coping with the 2 other powerstations, though powercuts of 2-3hours per day are expected.

PompeyPete

Alias_Omega wrote: »

The incident was caused by a bush fire that spread into the naval base. This spread into a weapons compound which in turn ignited the weapons.

There's also another theory that it was a discarded cigarette butt. Either way, tons of ammo ought to have been well protected.

Alias_Omega wrote: »

The incident is no where near any of the tourist areas, and is in between governors beach and Lemesos (Limassol).

I know it's all safe now, but I understand that loads of folk living in Zygi had their houses damaged by the explosion.

Alias_Omega wrote: »

...which the island is coping with the 2 other powerstations, though powercuts of 2-3hours per day are expected.

Trouble is that a lot of folk don't know at what time of day or night the power-cuts will affect them.
Traffic lights failing, with no police to direct traffic sounds interesting too.

expatdave

So far the power cuts have been for a few hours each day. Yesterday it went off twice for about two hours each time. Apparently they are switching off to electric to certain areas at certain times, but nobody seems to know when it will go off again. Yesterday when the power was switched off for a second time jumped in the car and drove to Paphos and the power was on there.

It makes you realise just how much you rely on electric!

PompeyPete

expatdave wrote: »

It makes you realise just how much you rely on electric!

You said it....

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/naval-base-blast/vassilikos-gone/20110714

They've started burying the poor souls who died....

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/anger-and-tears-eight-victims-are-buried/20110714

Mands

expatdave wrote: »

Apparently they are switching off to electric to certain areas at certain times, but nobody seems to know when it will go off again.

I imagine that is a deliberate choice. If people know that the power will be on at 8am and go back off at 10am then they can have the washing machine primed to go, the dishwasher loaded and ready, the kettle filled and mugs standing by and so on and so in.

All that would mean that individuals used more power than if the cuts are random but would also mean that the consumption spiked just after the supply was connected which would have to be bad news.

Oddly we've not had any cuts since Monday. Perhaps it's compensation for being so close to the, possible, depleted uranium

Mands

expatdave

Mands wrote: »

I imagine that is a deliberate choice. If people know that the power will be on at 8am and go back off at 10am then they can have the washing machine primed to go, the dishwasher loaded and ready, the kettle filled and mugs standing by and so on and so in.

All that would mean that individuals used more power than if the cuts are random but would also mean that the consumption spiked just after the supply was connected which would have to be bad news.

Oddly we've not had any cuts since Monday. Perhaps it's compensation for being so close to the, possible, depleted uranium

Mands

I was speaking to a girl yesterday and she lives near the hospital in Paphos and she said that the power has never gone off in here area as the leave it on there so the hospital does not have to use the emergency generators.

Yesterday it went off twice here, firstly at about 2pm for a couple of hours and then at about 8:15pm for about an hour/hour and a half.

It's a nightmare planning anything when you do not know when the power is going to be off. If you knew you could plan your day a lot better and be happier. For example people who go out for tea can order their tea before or after the power cut, instead of going out and ordering tea, then not being able to have it because the electric went off half way through.

My kids are only young and last night we were just putting the youngest to bed when the power went off, so we ended up in the pitch dark and had to go and sit outside until the electric was restored then we could cool the room enough for the baby to be comfortable.

Another annoying thing out here is the water, they often turn the water off for 8/12 hours per day. Many of the local businesses have no water most of the day. We are lucky as we have storage tanks on the roof of the villa, but without those I would of moved back to the UK sooner.

I just spoke to a local girl and she said that the power stations are really struggling and the cuts may become more common.

For all the faults in the UK and the bad weather it makes you appreciate it when you have lived out here for a while. Cyprus just does not have the infrastructure to cope with the amount of people living on the island (even before the explosion). There are empty apartments and villa's all over the place, yet prices are still very high. I feel sorry for people that have bought out here as I can only see the property prices going one way and that is down.

Sorry for ranting!

expatdave

I forgot to say RIP to the people that sadly lost their lives!

PompeyPete

expatdave wrote: »

For all the faults in the UK and the bad weather it makes you appreciate it when you have lived out here for a while. Cyprus just does not have the infrastructure to cope with the amount of people living on the island (even before the explosion). There are empty apartments and villa's all over the place, yet prices are still very high. I feel sorry for people that have bought out here as I can only see the property prices going one way and that is down.

We bought in Peyia in 2001, and moved there permanently at the end of 2003.
Soon realised we'd not made a great decision.
Took 2 years to sell, and we were very lucky.
Chucked in a 2 year old Toyota Hilux 4x4 to help seal the deal!
Good luck.

Mands

expatdave wrote: »

Sorry for ranting!

It's understandable. Being without regular electricity and water is not easy. It's not been a pleasant week and I imagine there's more upheaval to come.

Mands

Gloomendoom

Just returned from two weeks in the Paphos area of Cyprus. We were lucky and didn't suffer a single power cut while we were in our accommodation. In fact, the only evidence we saw of cuts was that various traffic lights were out and there were generators running all over the place. All the supermarkets and shops we went into had their air-con turned off, presumably to reduce consumption. Otherwise, it seemed business as usual.