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Dubai pulled together yesterday when a power failure caught the city unaware. Just as traffic seemed to get out of control, just as nerves started to fray when ATMs did not work and there were long queues at petrol stations, and just as the heat brought beads of sweat to foreheads, residents rose to the occasion and overcame. The bond that makes this city so vibrant triumphed. According to a release by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), a sudden failure in one of the main transmission substations at the Jebel Ali Power Station caused a power failure at 9.47am. It said emergency and maintenance teams were dispatched to attend to the fault and gradual restoration of power to vital areas started in less than two-and-a-half hours. Dewa officials dismissed wire reports saying there was a fire in a gas pipeline as pure speculation. An official told Gulf News last night: "It is normal for people to assume such things during emergencies. At this point in time it is a technical fault that led to the power failure. It is not a fire." The technical fault led to a "cascade effect" tripping other stations linked to the supply network, he said. It was not a total outage and some areas of Jebel Ali were not affected. Most mobile phone users in Dubai said they could not make or receive calls, but Etisalat said otherwise in a release. It said: "Mobile, fixed line and the internet network continued to function with normal efficiency. It has been brought to Etisalat's attention that approximately 35 per cent of mobile coverage area in Dubai, concentrated in the commercial buildings area, was affected. "The space and facilities available in these locations for back-up power supply is very limited, which is the reason for the service drop." There were no major accidents or fires, with police deploying personnel immediately at traffic signals to ease the flow. Yesterday being the start of the weekend, traffic flow was not as heavy. Residents too lent a hand, directing traffic sometimes, giving water to thirsty policemen and calming tempers. But for business it was a bad day. Dubai's 1.2 million residents could have lost in excess of Dh268.46 million in potential business. Dubai's gross domestic product reached Dh97.98 billion last year, which averages Dh268.46 million a day. This translates to a Dh11.18 million hourly loss in GDP. Dubai's share market cancelled deals and suspended trading shortly after opening yesterday as communications between investors and brokers snapped. Eisa Abdul Fattah Kazim, Director-General of Dubai Financial Market, told Gulf News that trading stopped five minutes after it began, since investors were unable to follow market movements over the internet. While on most weekends, residents from Sharjah and other emirates make a beeline for Dubai, clogging traffic on the city roads, yesterday, however, it seemed like Dubai residents were heading for cooler pastures elsewhere in the UAE. The impact
Emergency: An alert city saves the day with roads remaining calm
Business loss: Outage could cost millions of dirhams
Airport: Passengers in long wait for some flights
Services: Motorists queue up at petrol stations while ATMs fail to work
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