Power outages hitting areas across town on Thursday morning may have been caused by cable thieves tampering with the substation in West Street.
Around 5am Grahamstown resident Nic Moolman, who lives directly opposite the substation, said he heard a series of loud noises. These were followed by an explosion and a bright flash of light.
As Moolman left his house to investigate the source of the commotion he saw a vehicle speeding away up the street.
Upon further investigation he noticed the padlock to the substation door was lying on the ground beside a large piece of concrete. While outside, he heard another explosion and saw smoke coming from the corner of West and Beaufort streets.
Walking to the corner, Moolman said he saw a hole in the road outside KFC, which was filled with the unusual combination of both water and flames. Later a traffic cop arrived and put plastic cones around the hole until the fire department arrived and extinguished the fire.
Moolman believes the second explosion was caused by electricity arcing into the water-filled hole, setting the cable housing alight.
Electricity had still not been restored to certain areas, including Hill and Bartholomew streets, by early afternoon.
Power outages hitting areas across town on Thursday morning may have been caused by cable thieves tampering with the substation in West Street.
Around 5am Grahamstown resident Nic Moolman, who lives directly opposite the substation, said he heard a series of loud noises. These were followed by an explosion and a bright flash of light.
As Moolman left his house to investigate the source of the commotion he saw a vehicle speeding away up the street.
Upon further investigation he noticed the padlock to the substation door was lying on the ground beside a large piece of concrete. While outside, he heard another explosion and saw smoke coming from the corner of West and Beaufort streets.
Walking to the corner, Moolman said he saw a hole in the road outside KFC, which was filled with the unusual combination of both water and flames. Later a traffic cop arrived and put plastic cones around the hole until the fire department arrived and extinguished the fire.
Moolman believes the second explosion was caused by electricity arcing into the water-filled hole, setting the cable housing alight.
Electricity had still not been restored to certain areas, including Hill and Bartholomew streets, by early afternoon.
