Köpenick is back on the grid

After 31 hours without power can over turn on 30 000 people in the Berlin district of Köpenick, now back to the light. In the case of construction of a major cable was cut.

After 31 hours without electricity in the Köpenick district of Berlin, is since Wednesday evening. Thousands of people had been living on since Tuesday with no light, heating or telephone, after in construction work in addition to the main cable, the replacement cable is damaged. A total of more than 30 000 households and 2000 businesses were cut off from the power supply.

The Blackout started on Tuesday afternoon, on Wednesday evening shortly before 21: 30 the lights came on then all over again. At the latest, on Thursday morning, the daily life should return to normal for many residents. The large-scale power failure was restricted to public life in Köpenick, at times, substantial. Tram tracks are no longer drove, patients had to be transferred from intensive care units. Schools and shops remained closed.

On Wednesday evening, then went out in the nearby district of Berlin-Rudow, the lights - but only for about 40 minutes. Cause a cable was error, said Olaf Weidner, spokesman for the Vattenfall subsidiary stromnetz Berlin. With the power outage in Köpenick, have had nothing to do with it. Were affected about 3,000 households.

the cause of the power failure in Köpenick was a cable damage during construction of the Salvador-Allende-Brücke. In the case of a bore of both the main as well as the replacement cable had been damaged. The company responsible had not informed in advance of the course, the Vattenfall spokeswoman for the Berlin electricity grid, Julia Klausch.

"no such case in Berlin," said Jürgen Schunk, head of the crisis unit in case of power network in Berlin. Both cable systems had been cut during the drilling completely through, the technicians would need to perform the repair work on the access to the bridge in a confined space. A total of 34 000 customers were reported to be affected.