Major problems with mobile and emergency networks in Meløy after a lightning strike – crisis staff appointed – news Nordland

The lightning should have struck on the night of Tuesday, and already in the morning hours the municipality had set up a crisis team. – We are still working to get an overview, says mayor Sigurd Stormo to news: The challenges must be linked to power cuts, which in turn have led to problems on both the mobile and emergency networks. It is unclear how long it will take before the situation is normalized. – It is quite serious, says the mayor. In Ørnes, the Meløy health and welfare center is staffed by a doctor. The municipality is working to put services in place, as well as get information out. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Extra supervision at people’s homes It is mainly Halsa and parts of Engavågen that are affected. In these areas, the security alarms must be out of order. – We have an unstable network throughout the municipality. Both on the mobile and emergency network, Stormo explains. Mayor of Meløy, Sigurd Stormo (Ap). Photo: SYNNØVE SUNDBY FALLMYR / news The crisis team, which was set up at eight o’clock on Tuesday morning, has worked continuously to ensure that the most important services in the municipalities are in place. – It is important for us to get information out that the doctor’s office is staffed at Engavågen, and that an ambulance is stationed there, says Stormo and continues: – At Ørnes, the Meløy health and welfare center is staffed by a doctor, and an ambulance is stationed on Reipå. Halsa, which according to the mayor has major challenges, is staffed by a doctor at Halsa health centre. – We have also had extra supervision outside where we have a security alarm, which is out of order, adds the mayor. Unclarified situation The municipality has been in contact with national communications authorities. They have confirmed that it is power outages that are the underlying cause of the challenges with the network. The mayor says it is still not clear how long it will take before things return to normal. – We do not have an overview of how long it will take. Information will come when we know more. It seems that the vast majority of people have internet, and we will be rolling out information online continuously. He emphasizes that it is important that people are now good to each other. – People must now be a good neighbour. It is important in situations like this. – What are you doing to get the word out about the situation? – Meløy Energi is working on the power supply, where we await more reports. In the short term, it is about getting staff up so that we are sure that the important services at the doctor’s offices are available. Switch taken by lightning Operations manager Jan Tore Roksøy in Meløy Energi says that the power was out in four areas this morning. Then Halsos/Sørheim, the center of Enga, Saura, Kildal to Bjærangen, parts of Mesøya and the Grønøy/Åmøy area from Engavågen and beyond were affected. – Now an area on Grønøy/Åmøy is affected, otherwise everyone has regained power except for a few customers on Halsa. There, a switch has been taken by lightning, and it is therefore more demanding for the company to get the power back. – We have been out to troubleshoot and repair. There were not many breaks, but it was difficult to find the faults that were along the line. Meløy Energi has not been affected by the fact that the emergency network and the network have been gone, as they have other ways of communicating with each other. Now they expect that all their customers will have the electricity restored within a short time. – The vast majority of people should have the power restored within an hour. Published 27.08.2024, at 12.20 Updated 27.08.2024, at 12.27



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