The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

MANY parts of Abaco lost power yesterday after a single Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) pole snapped and fell across a Dundas Town road.

This incident follows last week’s prolonged outage on the island, which left residents and business owners frustrated and facing losses worth thousands of dollars.

The interruption happened shortly after 9am yesterday, affecting power supply across Central and South Abaco and the surrounding cays.

The downed pole on Front Street, Dundas Town, located near the community’s Cultural Park, also blocked road access.

Residents expressed relief that no vehicles or children were in the area at the time, noting the potential for a serious accident.

Northern Family Island Regional Manager Marvin Green said staff were working on emergency plan maintenance on one of major units at Wilson City when this latest interruption happened.

He said the downed power pole likely gave way due to corrosion from salt over time, combined with strong winds in Abaco and other islands.

“Those polls are usually reinforced with galvanized stay wire, apparently, because that is right on the front street with the salt, the salt there would have corroded that over time, and so it eventually gave way due to the tension and plus the strong winds that we’ve that has been realized in Abaco and and across some of the islands this morning,” he said. “So the team is is wrapping up things.”

BPL officials reported that power had been restored within hours to all affected areas except for a portion of Dundas Town, where crews were still working up to press time.

“The pole has been erected and high voltage lines are in the process of being transferred,” BPL said in a statement. “We apologise for all inconvenices caused.”