Mid afternoon power loss cripples old capital

A power outage this afternoon caused almost four hours of inconvenience to the entire city at the peak of the work day. While of late there have been frequent scheduled power outages around the country, today’s power failure was accidental. According to the Belize Electricity Limited, the outage occurred at one-fifty-four this afternoon when a tree being cut down behind the Mahogany Street Extension in the Lake Independence area fell on B.E.L.’s transmission line that feeds most of the City. What compounded the problem was that the mishap occurred in such a peculiar and remote location in thick swamps that it took B.E.L.’s work crew a while to get to the scene and remove the tree. But at around five thirty-five p.m., power was restored and we were able to get our newscast on air on time. The only area in which power was quickly restored was Feeder Two, which feeds the nation’s only referral hospital, Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, is located.