Mass blackout affected three Central Asian countries
Tengrinews.kz — Amid a widespread power outage in Almaty, Almaty Region and other parts of Kazakhstan, residents of neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have also begun reporting disruptions to electricity supplies.
What is happening in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz media are reporting widespread power outages. According to Kaktus.media, starting at around 3:00 p.m., residents of various districts of Bishkek and the surrounding region began reporting power cuts en masse.
Reports have come from central streets of the Kyrgyz capital, the Alamedin-1 microdistrict, major shopping centers, as well as suburban villages and Issyk-Kul Region.
According to the outlet, the National Electric Grid of Kyrgyzstan has not yet commented on the situation.
What is happening in Tajikistan
Tajik media are also reporting widespread power outages. According to Asia-Plus, at around 3:15 p.m., residents of Dushanbe, Khujand, Kulob, Vahdat, Nurek and a number of other cities and districts across the country lost electricity almost simultaneously.
The cause of the outage has not yet been officially announced. An emergency task force has been set up, and specialists are working to restore power supplies.
What happened to the power supply in Kazakhstan
Power disruptions began in Almaty and Almaty Region at around 3:00 p.m. on August 14. Residents of various districts of the city reported outages. According to official information, an accident occurred on 500 kV overhead power transmission lines owned by KEGOC.
As a result of the accident, a total load of 300 MW was disconnected.
In Almaty Region, electricity was cut off in Zhambyl, Balkhash, Esik, Karasai, Shelek, Raiymbek, Uyghur, Ili, Kegen and Talgar districts.
Alatau Zharyk Company said specialists were carrying out the necessary work to restore electricity supplies to consumers. In Almaty itself, outages were officially confirmed in the Bostandyk, Nauryzbay, Auezov and Alatau districts.
In Almaty, the outage also caused some traffic lights to stop working, disrupted communications and quickly led to traffic congestion. Traffic police officers were deployed to intersections.