KORTropical nights, making it difficult to sleep without air conditioning, have continued for days. Power outages are occurring one after another as the electricity supply and demand face overloads. The government is also closely monitoring the situation.
Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the details.
A notice has been posted at the entrance of an apartment complex stating that a power outage occurred due to the heatwave.
Electricity supply to this 1,600-household apartment complex was cut off at around 5:46 a.m. today (August 8).
The sharp increase in air conditioner usage overloaded the apartment's electrical facilities.
[Management Office Employee: Since ten days ago, we kept broadcasting announcements every 15 minutes every evening. We asked residents to refrain from using air conditioning as much as possible, but it still happened. When the load gets too heavy, it overheats and the fuse blows.]
It took time to find parts to replace the broken equipment, so restoration was achieved only after 1:00 p.m.
As the eight-hour blackout continued, elevator operations halted, forcing delivery workers to walk up and down the stairs, and residents had to go out as they could not endure the sweltering heat.
[Kim Gwan-sik / Apartment Resident: In the morning, I had no choice but to go to a sauna in front of the complex to use the restroom, wash up, and I just got back a little while ago.]
Seven hours after the blackout began, looking inside the refrigerator, frozen foods are melting like this, and items that need to maintain freshness, like blanched octopus, are gradually losing their coldness.
Power outages also broke out in various places across the country, including a village in Jangjae-ri, Asan, South Chungcheong Province, where an outage occurred last night and was restored after five hours, and a 1,200-household apartment complex in Suseong-gu, Daegu, which suffered a six-hour power cut overnight.
As industrial operations resume following the vacation season amid the heatwave, there is a possibility that electricity demand will exceed all-time highs, prompting the government to inspect power supply and demand response systems and closely monitor the situation.
(Video reporting: Choi Dae-woong, Video editing: Kim Ho-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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