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Power supply halted by windstorm in Moscow Reg resumed to most areas

The power supply is expected to be resumed on Wednesday afternoon

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, May 2 (Itar-Tass) —— Power supply halted by the heavy windstorm in the Moscow Region has been resumed to three of the four affected districts, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry's regional department told Itar-Tass.

On Tuesday evening, the windstorm of up to 17 metres a second broke trees and electro-transmission lines, cutting off electricity to 32 residential sites in the Shchyolkovo, Dmitrov, Podolsk and Istra districts of a total of more than 2,500 people. Power supply was not cut off to socially important facilities.

The work is completed in three of the four districts. Six residential sites of nearly 400 people in the Shchyolkovo district are still left without electricity. The repair is expected to be completed soon.

The Moscow unified electricity distribution company's spokesman Vitaly Strugovets told Itar-Tass that power supply to the affected areas was almost completely resumed.

The supply resumed by 07:00 on Wednesday morning. Only some transformer substations not connected with residential sites do not work so far, he said, adding that the supply was completely resumed to the north and the west of the region.

The sub-stations that have not restarted working so far supply electricity to gardeners, forestry services and other sites. The power supply is expected to be resumed on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the company's information, the windstorm most severely hit the Domodedovo, Podolsk, Shchyolkovo, Noginsk and Kolomna districts.

About 300 transformer substations stopped working, Strugovets said earlier. More than 180 teams of energy workers dealt with the consequences of the storm.

The windstorm also hit Moscow on Tuesday evening. The mayor's office told Itar-Tass on Wednesday that already on Tuesday night workers began to cut and remove broken trees from streets, yards and parks.

Some trees fell onto parked cars, and dozens of cars were damaged. The wind tore off the roof from a parking site in the southeast of the city and damaged the roof of the dormitory building of Moscow State Construction University. Some large advertisement boards fell. Some people were hurt by falling trees. One seriously injured woman is in an intensive care ward in hospital.

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