Visakhapatnam:While the entire coastal AP and Visakhapatnam City lost power for hours due to the cyclone Arnab on Tuesday and Wednesday, the residents on the Vizag beach front had the luxury of having power all through the two days.

This was thanks to the underground power cabling system. Incidentally several localities there had witnessed tree falls and lamp posts yet there was no loss of power.

The underground system connects important locations that include the entire stretch of RK Beach, Siripuram, CBM Compound, Old CBI Down, China Waltair and Peda Waltair, Pndurangapuram, Kirlampudi Layout, East Point Colony and parts of MVP Colony.

Underground power cable laying in Visakhapatnam began in March 2018 with the civil works starting from RK Beach under a project funded by World Bank. The project was initiated after super cyclone Hudhud struck the city in 2014. “Even if there are technical snags arising out of high velocity winds we will restore them without losing much time,’’ said an engineer of APEPDCL, Visakhapatnam.

People living in Madhurawada had a power outage in the early hours of Tuesday and the supply was restored only by noon on Wednesday. Similarly, people lost connection in Seethammadhara, HB Colony, Dwarakanagar and Maddilapalem for several hours.

“Power supply was on and off many times and it was never steady,’’ said an event manager.

People from parts of coastal Andhra complained that their connections had been snapped due to high velocity winds on Tuesday and they were yet to get the power. Several IT professionals and bankers who sought permission to work from home suffered the outage and had to seek help from friends living in the beach area, sources said.

“Power was getting snapped immediately after restoration as there were continuous tree falls,'' CMD of APEPDCL Immadi Prithvitej said.

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