Sharjah rejoices as power is restored

SHARJAH // Power has been restored in most of Sharjah where a large section of the emirate had been without electricity for about 24 hours. Most areas previously without power had their service restored by 9am following a long night's blackout in neighbourhoods including al Nabba, Abu Shagara, al Khan and al Nahda. Only Abu Shagara reported an outage today, a three-hour cut that persisted until noon. Power was also restored to most of the industrial areas, which are usually hardest hit by the shortages. Many residents rejoiced as their air conditioners and refrigerators began functioning again but remained sceptical of how long they would continue to operate. "I think we shall have it for some few weeks before it blacks out again like it has done recently," said Ahmed al Hajj, 34, an Emirati resident of Sharjah's al Buhaira Corniche. Still, the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority could not confirm whether the crisis was over. "All areas have power today, that's all I can tell you," a SEWA spokesman said. ykakande@thenational.ae