Power back in Eindhoven

8 August 2006

AMSTERDAM — Ten of thousands of households in the Eindhoven region were left without electricity for several hours on Monday evening.

Utility company Essent said a problem with a transformer at 9.15pm left 21,000 people without electricity in the north and south Woensel districts of Eindhoven. Geldrop and parts of Nuenen and Heeze also lost power. In total 34,000 people were affected by the power cut.

The Máxima Medical Centre in Eindhoven and St. Anna Hospital in Geldrop were also hit and had to resort to emergency generators, the police said. Extra police officers were assigned to the streets during the blackout but there were no reports of trouble.

Essent said all areas were re-connected to the power net by 11.30pm. The cause of the fault at in the transformer at a relay station in the east of Eindhoven is under investigation. A spokesperson for the company had no information about the cause on Tuesday morning.

This is the second major power cut in recent days. An explosion at an Eneco relay station at Middelharnis left 20,000 people without electric for several hours on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in South Holland province on Saturday.

Subject: Dutch news