Parts of Sabah electricity grid damaged by bad weather

KOTA KINABALU: There has been fairly extensive damage of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) equipment in the state due to strong winds and heavy rains over the past few days.

SESB senior general manager (asset management) Norhizami Abu Hassan said the bad weather, which started on Sept 11, had damaged at least 1,000 units of its assets.

It is learnt that thousands of users are also affected by this.

"The damaged assets include electric poles, cables and so on, due to fallen trees, among other factors," Norhizami said in a statement here on Sunday (Sept 15).

He said restoration works started as soon as weather conditions allowed.

"The areas involved are Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Kota Belud, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Papar and Beaufort," he said.

Norhizami urged those who have been affected to be patient as SESB staff and contractors were working around the clock to fix the problems.

"We are doing things as fast as we can, with the safest way possible for all those involved," he said.

A total of 200 SESB technical staff and over 300 contract workers statewide are involved in the power restoration and asset repair works.

The strong winds and heavy rains also saw dozens of houses in parts of Sabah including Putatan, have their roofs blown off and sustain minor damage to buildings in other parts of the state.