Residents could not sleep because of mosquitoes and the heat, while businesses suffered heavy losses resulting from damage to perishable goods.
People in the Quwaizah and Harazat neighborhoods, which were hit the hardest by the power cut, drove about in their cars so that their children could get some sleep away from mosquitoes and heat.
They complained that the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) did not respond to most of their calls.
Students complained that they could not study or sleep at night.
Some of the affected residents were infuriated when they found some workers of an SEC contracting company sleeping in a lorry at night.
Awad Al-Mutairi, a resident in an affected district, said the power failure started at 9.30 p.m. on Saturday and did not end until 2.30 a.m. on Sunday.
“We could not eat because there was no light, nor sleep because of the mosquitoes and hot weather. I don’t know why the electricity company punished us in this cruel manner. We hoped that the power supply would resume at any time but it went on until the early hours.”
Saad Al-Zahrani, who lives in the Harazat district, said the unexpected power cut caused his son’s computer to short-circuit.
“So I went in search of the electricity company’s office and found one in the Qadisiyah district. An engineer there told me that a technical flaw had caused the outage and repairs were under way. I decided to stay with him until the repairs were completed. However, the resumed power supply lasted only for a few minutes. We waited until 2.30 a.m. but the problem was not resolved,” Al-Zahrani said.
Musleh Al-Harithi, a shop owner in the same district, said he suffered losses of approximately SR20,000 because the meat, chicken and dairy products in his cold storage went off.
Fellow resident Masud Obaidullah said he was worried about criminals operating in the area.
“We sent our grown-up sons to look out for burglars because the neighborhood is full of illegal residents,” he said.
As a precautionary measure against crimes taking place in the darkness, 20 security cars equipped with powerful search lights patrolled the affected districts, a police source said.
An official from the SEC said the breakdown of a generator caused the outage and power was restored to most districts after repairs.
