AJ
Residents of Murmansk and Severomorsk first started reporting about blackouts in the region that also houses the main naval base of the North Fleet of Russia.
According to the residents on the night, trolleybuses had broken down in some parts of Murmansk, escalators in shopping centres had stopped working, and elevators in buildings were out of order, while traffic lights had also gone out.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Department first stated there was an accident on the power grid in Severomorsk that was also affecting the town of Safonovo.
Mayor of Murmansk Ivan Lebedev reported a power surge and a partial power outage in different parts of the city.
On the night of the power outage, six Tu-22M3 bombers launched from the Olenya airbase Murmansk region to launch an attack on Kyiv, before landing at other airfields that had power in other regions.
Civil defense shelters and military field kitchens were deployed allowing residents the possibility of charging phones, as well as food distribution points, reported City Head Ivan Lebedev.
Outages were reported to have affected several districts, including the settlements of Safanovo and Roslyakovo, and according to an investigation of negligence, officials of the grid were found to have failed to ensure proper maintenance of power lines and didn’t respond to the incident in a timely manner.
Rosseti North-West explained the outages by the fall of power line supports was due to the weight of the snow and strong winds, as Governor Andrey Chibis introduced an high state of alert by January 24, noting that the power supply remained limited for about 10% of Murmansk residents.
This morning a state of emergency was introduced due to the massive power outage, announced on the Telegram channel of Governor Chibis, stating it was due to the protracted nature of the incident.
“For the residents of the region, the introduction of a state of emergency does not entail changes in everyday life, but we need it to attract additional equipment and materials from private companies,” explained the Governor.
According to the Governor, restoration work is being made complicated because of a snowstorm and the difficult terrain getting to the affected areas.
