[Anchor]

With many households running their air conditioners constantly amid the scorching heat, surging power consumption has caused blackouts in various areas, leaving residents sleepless through tropical nights.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

Early in the morning today (August 4) at an apartment complex in Nowon-gu, Seoul.

The exterior of the apartment complex is pitch black, and chairs are placed in front of non-operational elevators to block access.

At around 9:45 PM yesterday, a blackout hit about 600 households across 5 buildings in this apartment complex.

Residents tried to endure the heat by fanning themselves in homes where neither refrigerators nor electric fans worked, but it was not enough.

Trapped in a tropical night with temperatures nearing 30°C (86°F) even late at night, residents took refuge in their cars,

[Apartment Resident: (Why are you staying in your car?) Because of the air conditioner. It's too hot. I'm planning to take a half-day off tomorrow morning, wash up, and go.]

or evacuated urgently to the apartment's senior citizen center or community service center.

[Jang In-sung / Apartment Resident: I have to go to work tomorrow, but it's so frustrating right now. It's so bewildering I cannot even put it into words.]

Residents, who experienced the exact same thing 8 years ago, had to spend another sleepless night just like that day.

[Yu Sang-jun / Apartment Resident: The power went out on a hot day like today back then too, and all the elevators stopped working, and we couldn't use air conditioners or fans, so we had to go to nearby marts, PC rooms, or convenience stores and leave our phones to charge...]

The district office believes that the blackout occurred because a transformer blew due to an increase in electricity consumption.

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At around the same time, a blackout also occurred in about 560 households at an apartment complex in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

The cause was likewise the increase in electricity consumption.

[Management Office Official: Overload. Power consumption was high. Because the weather is hot, a lot of electricity was used all at once.]

Although power was restored after about two hours, residents had to endure significant inconvenience.

At around 8:00 PM yesterday, a blackout also hit about 5,000 households across 4 apartment complexes in Pungmu-dong, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, leaving 2 residents trapped in an elevator before being rescued.

(Video by Lee Byung-joo, Video Editing by Kim Jong-tae)