Savannakhet Repairs Storm Damage To Electricity Grid

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Savannakhet province is rushing to repair the 22 Kw electricity grid along two kilometres of Road No. B9 in Kaysone Phomvihane district after it was damaged by thunderstorms and strong winds on July 18.

Damage from the storm valued at over three billion kip affected more than 70 electricity poles, also damaged four houses and felled 48 trees.

According to initial reports from a senior official at the Kaysone Phomvihane district office, squalls brought down 48 trees and left four houses and other buildings without roofs, while 78 electricity poles were toppled.

Head of Savannakhet Administration Mr Phoukhong Nammachak office told Vientiane Times on Friday following central and provincial authorities investigations of damage to the electric grid they assessed it needed immediate repair and upgrade.

Currently provincial authorities have been installing electric poles and asked the government for addition budget to improve the electricity grid.

Local people affected by the storm were left without power but provincial authorities have set up a temporary connection.

Storms this year have inflicted varying degrees of damage around the country, especially in April when storms hit Luang Prabang, Khammuan and Oudomxay provinces.

In Luang Prabang province, three people died when squalls passed through several parts of the province.

A person on a boat died when the craft sank while it  was moored on the Mekong riverbank in the main town. Another person was electrocuted in Pakxaeng district when a tree branch knocked over an electricity pole, while a third died in Ngoy district after being struck by lightning.

Hundreds of roofs in the province’s eight districts were damaged and some houses were blown over completely.

Meanwhile, in July, Some 174 families in Botaen district, Xayaboury province were affected by flooding which inundated 60 hectares of rice fields, 56 fish farms and some houses. Besides that, some 900 families in communities along

the Nam San and over 300 hectares of farmland in six villages of Borikhan district, Borikhamxay province, were also partially underwater.

The flooded area included 262 hectares of rice fields and 65 hectares of cassava crops.

Also in Pakxan district, Borikhamxay province, over 1,000 people were cut off from neighbouring towns and districts after a road flooded there recently, with two villages having to resort to transport by boat. Some 200 families of more than 1,000 people struggled to get in and out of their villages and were using boats to get around.

 

Source: Vientiane Times