JEDDAH, 31 July 2005 — Metropolitan Jeddah was hit with a series of power outages yesterday. Some areas, after eight hours, were still sweating it out in the hope that the power would be back.

The outages were widespread but scattered on a hot and humid afternoon. Many experienced at least a flicker in the power supply two or three times yesterday.

The local dispatch center of the Saudi Electricity Company in Jeddah said the problem was in the Rabigh power plant. A source at the Rabigh plant, who did not wish to be identified, said the problems stemmed from the overloading of generators in certain areas.

“On top of this, there were transmission problems in the plant. These contributed to the power cuts,” he said, adding that all technical staff were pressed into duty to identify and rectify the problem. “Power will be restored to the city soon,” he said.

Osama Milibari, an Al-Hamra resident, was without electricity for six hours yesterday. “It was two o’ clock when the power went. Instead of getting baked in this heat, I took my family to my relative’s home which still had power,” he said.

Sami Alagi, however, came up with a different solution. “On finding that the power was not restored till evening in Al-Rawdah district, I just took my family to the hotel for a night out.”

As the temperatures soared so did tempers. Many left their houses to be with their relatives or friends. Many office workers were a shade irritated with the load shedding that interrupted their work, but not many had to cope with a total cut.

People in different parts of the city were affected, but some stayed cool over the loss of power. Many turned the situation into an impromptu outing. Abu Bader, who lives in Nuzah district, took his family to the cool retreat of ChuckyCheese on the Corniche.

Ahmad of Al-Jamia District in south Jeddah said: “The outage took place after Asr prayers, and in this unbearable heat, I just took my family to the Heraa Mall.”

“We are used to these sort of cuts and as usual people flocked to the stores to stock up on ice. Every summer this is a feature we have to endure,” Ahmad added.

One of the restaurant owners in the Al Hamra district said they were lucky. “Our block (where all the restaurants are situated) was spared, but all the other houses were without electricity.”

This random outage hit many districts with people in Al-Thager and Rajwad districts claiming that electricity went down three times, but was restored swiftly on all three occasions, while residents of Al-Khalidiah district said power went down only briefly.

Gassam Bataweel, while driving home from the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry HQ at 2.30 p.m., found the traffic signals flashing only red. “But before a jam could occur, the police arrived to control the situation. I think this must have been the case in many places,” he said.