Singapore's CBD hit by rare power outage

SINGAPORE - Parts of Singapore's financial district suffered a rare power outage on Friday afternoon before electricity was restored in about half an hour, occupants in some office towers said.

Such disruptions are rare in a city where residents and businesses are used to efficient and uninterrupted public utilities services.

"It was quite shocking. Nobody was doing any business after the power went out," said one employee of a money-changer at Raffles Place, where many global banks and multinational companies are located.

Stomp contributor Foo who works at Chinatown Point in New Bridge Road said the electricity suddenly went off at about 2.45pm.

He took a video of the situation in the mall and sent it to Stomp.

In the video, the lights in the shops were all switched off.

People are seen climbing down travelators and escalators which have stopped moving.

However some of the lights in the lobby and near the lift were still on, and Foo explained that those were the emergency lights and would still operate during a power outage.

In an update later, Foo said that power was restored at about 3.15pm.

The Straits Times newspaper said some people turned to social media to report that lifts in their buildings had stopped working and they were trapped in their offices without light.

In a post at 3.30pm, Twitter user Zubaidah Nazeer said that the blackout at her office was ongoing for more than half an hour, adding that there were some passengers who were stuck in the lifts.

She posted an update at around 3.40pm, saying that the power in Robinson Road had been restored.

Another Twitter user, musicalhouses, revealed that she had to walk down 28 floors to get to her meeting due to the blackout.

[embed]https://twitter.com/ZubNaz/status/1002447899781787648[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/musicalhouses/status/1002451323516739584[/embed]

Elsewhere, Ms Bernice Koh, 24, told The Straits Times that the power went just after 3pm at her office in China Square Central in Cross Street.

She said: "All of us were shocked because it went dark all of a sudden.

"But after that, we heard that it was not just us and that other buildings, such as those on Robinson Road, were also affected."

Ms Koh said that her colleagues stayed in the office until the light came back on at about 3.30pm.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAFFmIVrCgc[/embed]

Utility SP Group said in a statement that electricity supply to parts of the business district was fully restored within 34 minutes. It was investigating the cause of the outage.