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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ryan Fahey

London power cut: Blackouts across capital as thousands of homes hit by outage

Tens of thousands of Londoners were left without power today after an electrical station fire lead to blackouts across the capital.

It is estimated that more than 38,000 Londoners were affected across the capital's 37 postcode areas.

The majority of the outages were reported in the Whitechapel area, with clusters in Belgravia, Westminster, Pimlico, Brixton and Wimbledon also being reported.

At 12:30pm, UK Power Networks' website showed outage reports popping up in most London boroughs.

The company - which owns the power lines - said cuts were caused by "fault on a high voltage underground electricity cable".

The London Fire Brigade later confirmed the fault in question was caused by an ongoing fire that ripped through an electrical substation in Poplar, east London.

Blackouts are hitting thousands of Londoners today, according to power outage websites (ukpowernetworks.co.uk)

A spokesperson said: "Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters have been called to a fire at an electrical substation on Castor Lane in Poplar. Part of the ground floor of a two-storey electrical substation is alight. A 25-metre cordon is in place as a precaution."

In total, it took 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters battling the blaze to bring it under control.

This led to around 100 people being evacuated from an adjoining depot, and 1,500 students from a college at the rear of the substation, the brigade confirmed.

The DLR has since been reopened and is operating with minor delays, but the Blackwell and Rotherhithe tunnels remain closed, The Evening Standard reported.

The outage was caused by a fire at an electrical substation in Poplar, reports say (London Fire Brigade)

The latest update from the power company confirmed their engineers were working to solve the problem, and their online power cut map still shows parts of the capital affected by the blackout.

They had resolved power for a number of areas of London but as recently as 4:30pm parts of the capital remained in the dark they said.

Previously, Station Commander Colin Digby, said: "The fire is causing power outages which could affect around 38,000 customers.

"The whole of the Docklands Light Railway line is suspended. Blackwall Tunnel, Rotherhithe Tunnel and Limehouse Link Tunnel are also closed whilst crews work to make the scene safe."

The blackout lead to commuter chaos as the capital's traffic lights "went off" (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Social media users described how confusion and chaos broke out on the roads of Limehouse and Wapping today as the traffic lights "went off".

One man told MyLondon: "Yes Limehouse and Wapping affected whole blocks of flats out of power and traffic lights not working. Rotherhithe tunnel being closed."

A map created by the company shows areas outside of East London may also have been affected.

The blackout lead to commuter chaos as the capital's traffic lights "went off" and the blaze was ongoing as of 3pm but was later brought under control by fire crews.

The power outages were reported across London (ukpowernetworks.co.uk)

The company asked people to keep updated via their website or DM them on Twitter with a full postcode and mobile number for free text updates.

They wrote earlier that they're aware of cuts affecting E1, E1W and E14 areas of the city.

They tweeted: "We’re aware of a power cut affecting the #E1, #E1W and #E14 areas of #London.

"Our engineers are working to get the power on as soon as possible."

The Rotherhithe Tunnel in south London was closed due to power outages (Phillip Perry / Rotherhithe Tunnel, SE16 / CC BY-SA 2.0)

One woman wrote on Twitter that cuts had hit both Lidl and Pure Gym in Limehouse. This came before a man who said he finally got to the gym after skipping it for weeks to find the machines were totally out of juice.

While many East Londoners were upset about the blackouts, some used it as a chance to crack a witty quip on social media.

One said: "The East London power cut means my boyfriend and I have decided on our hunter gatherer duties."

Another said: "Got a power cut and letting my lunch continue to cook in the residual heat of the oven. wish me luck."

One man turned up to the gym for the first time in a while to find the machines off (@AdamDavid_Smith/Twitter)

Just last month the energy provider apologised to thousands who spent the night sitting in darkness amid major power outages.

The issues affected phone lines as well as people’s lights and tellies.

Some went online to joke it is lucky they had their Valentine's Day candles ready while others fumed they were missing the NFL Super Bowl.

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