Eskom restored the electricity supply to much of the eastern Free State on Monday after cutting it off earlier in the day for emergency repairs, a spokesperson said.
”The earth wire on one of Eskom’s 88KV high-voltage power lines that was hit by lightning and broken could not be joined and was being removed,” said Chriska van der Merwe.
Power to four eastern Free State towns — Petrus Steyn, Tweeling, Reitz and Lindley — as well as some surrounding rural areas was interrupted at about 11.30am on Monday.
Power was restored at about 3pm after two additional teams were called in by Eskom from Petrus Steyn to help the technical teams from Bethlehem in repairing the line.
Earlier, Van der Merwe said heavy rains in recent weeks had caused the earth wire of the high voltage line to break. The line was not earthed for about 2km.
”This situation is very dangerous,” she said, adding that a farmer had phoned them that the line was broken. — Sapa