Floods: Tenom hydropower plant shut down due to landslides, overall supply not affected

KOTA KINABALU: The Tenom hydroelectric power plant has been temporarily shut down due to landslides along the road heading towards the station.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said the landslides were reported early Tuesday (Nov 1), with water flows and large rocks falling onto the Tenom Pangi Hydro Power Plant Station intake gate.

“SESB has to shut down operations of this station for safety reasons,” he said in a statement.

He added that SESB was still checking on the damage and overall situation at the plant.

“Our emergency action plan has been activated and all officials at the location have been relocated,” Yaakob said.

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He said the incident did not affect the overall electricity supply on the Sabah grid system.

State Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Misran Bisara said they received a call about the incident at around 8.30am, with six people also reported trapped inside a powerhouse some 5km from the main gate.

“Our men located the trapped victims, and brought them to safety,” he said in a statement, adding that no one was injured in this incident.

The affected SESB workers were Mohammad Raffi Yahya, 37, Yeo Vui Wang, 42, Lai Tack Lee, 59, and Ahmad Adzdzari, 29, as well as two auxiliary policemen Mohd Nizar Abdul Majid, 35, and Zenobius Ambutang, 41.

Sabah has been hit by continuous heavy rain over the past two days, resulting in floods and other damage in various districts including Penampang, Kunak, Tawau, Keningau and Sipitang.

A total of 118 victims from 29 families in three districts – Penampang, Kunak and Sipitang – were evacuated to relief centres as of noon.