PETALING JAYA: Frustration rose as a major power blackout in the Klang Valley and several other states plunged parts of the nation into chaos.
Malfunctioning traffic lights caused gridlocks and accidents while homes and businesses were blacked out, with some office towers and factories losing all power in yesterday afternoon’s outage.
Confused Malaysians were also left stranded in places like shopping malls, airports, train platforms and workplaces while waiting for power to return.
Student Nur Iman, 25, said his planned outing with friends in Kuala Lumpur turned sour after the cinema hall blacked out as the movie approached its climax.
“Initially we thought it was part of the movie, but after a while, we realised there was something wrong when a staff member came in to inform us (about the power outage).
“It was rather disappointing as we were all excited to see what would happen next, but at least we were offered a refund,” he said.
Retail supervisor James Tho, 29, said the power outage saw not only his phone line go down but also the traffic lights in the area malfunction.
“I was having lunch at that time and was puzzled as to why my Whatsapp messages couldn’t even be sent through.
“The drive home left me even more puzzled as the traffic lights near my housing area were not functioning,” he said, adding that the outage in his area lasted about an hour.
Devon Lee, 46, said there were major traffic jams in the Mont Kiara area of Kuala Lumpur, with traffic lights not working, causing a bus and a car to crash.
“I was confused about what was going on; it was super chaotic,” she said, adding that the power returned after about an hour.
Malay language instructor Suzanna Hamdan, 56, decided not to go to her office in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, due to the power outage.
“I was afraid that my office would be really inconvenient for me and my students if there was no air-conditioning.
“I was also worried that if the traffic lights were not working, there would be a traffic jam, plus there was also a thunderstorm warning, so I was afraid of flooding,” she said.
It was learnt that manufacturing firms in certain parts of Shah Alam, Selangor, were also affected by the blackout, which occurred around 1pm.
“It affected production because we could not start our machines and equipment. We resorted to using the standby generator sets, but they were not enough to power the entire factory,” said the general manager of a multinational plant.
He added that power returned around 3.30pm.
Twitter user @loeyhany complained on social media about how badly affected his simple trip back home on the LRT was.
“Going back through only three stops took me over an hour. Thank God I was able to reach home safely,” he tweeted.
The selflessness of food riders who became volunteer temporary traffic police during the blackout to prevent accidents at intersections was also highlighted on social media.“When KL has no electricity, these are some of the unsung heroes on the streets.
“The traffic light is down and the road would be badly jammed if not for these food riders helping to control the traffic,” tweeted @hazwanhfiz with pictures showing food riders helping to manage traffic at various intersections.
Several areas in Kuantan and Pekan, Pahang, were also hit by the major blackout.
Student Aizuddin Azmi, 21, said he saw that a few traffic lights were out when he was heading back to his college after lunch at 1.30pm.
“I went out for lunch, but while travelling back to my college in Taman Pertanian, I saw that a few traffic lights were not functioning.
“My friend was watching a movie at the Kuantan City Mall but his movie was disrupted at around 12.50pm because of the blackout,” he said.
Aizuddin added that his friend decided to leave the cinema as the electricity had yet to be restored by 2pm, but got stuck in a long queue as the autopay machines were not functioning.
An employee of a public university in Pekan said the blackout started at around noon and power was restored a few hours later.
“We had to depend on diesel generators, but they don’t cover the whole university,” he said.
In Negri Sembilan, several areas, especially those bordering Selangor, also experienced power outages.
Checks showed that parts of Seremban, Nilai, Sendayan, Seremban 2, Chuah and Lukut in Port Dickson were affected.
Tampin, which is located further south, also suffered a blackout, with several areas in the town centre affected.
Power was restored in stages from 2.45pm onwards.
A number of areas in Perak, including Manjung, Perak Tengah and Ipoh were also hit by a brief power outage.
