EAC received around 25,000 calls after storm, parts of Nicosia remain without power

By the end of Saturday, the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) had received around 25,000 calls from residents left without power after the extreme weather on 29 August. Electricity had been restored in most of the affected areas, but numerous minor local network faults remained in Nicosia district.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), EAC spokesperson Christina Papadopoulou said that by 19:00 on Saturday, the call centre had received around 18,000 reports, while at certain times up to 3,500 calls an hour were coming in.

Across the country, around 40 major medium-voltage network faults were recorded — each such fault can leave up to 10,000 consumers without electricity. They were repaired by around seven o’clock on Saturday evening, after which crews turned to low-voltage faults affecting individual homes and small groups of subscribers.

The causes of the damage included trees and objects falling onto power lines, wind-toppled poles and transformers damaged by lightning. In some cases, sections of roofs and solar panels were blown onto transmission lines.

All Nicosia crews are working at increased capacity, assisted by specialists from Limassol and other districts. Cherry pickers have been sent to the capital, including for trimming trees and restoring lines. “We are moving from one fault to the next,” Papadopoulou said.

Due to the surge in calls, the company is asking those who are still without power to report the fault through the EAC Mobile App: with geolocation enabled, users can provide the exact location of the outage, and the report will immediately be visible to dispatchers. The EAC described the incident as unprecedented in scale and reminded property owners, municipalities and communities that they should also monitor trees near power lines.