The emirate of Sharjah witnessed a massive power outage on Sunday morning, disrupting businesses, banking services, and commercial establishments. Local media reports said the outage happened around 12 pm at parts of Al Majaz and Al Taawun, including Jamal Abdul Nasser Street and nearby residential and commercial neighbourhoods.

Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) confirmed the outage, which they claimed was restored as quickly as possible in some areas. The technical team was still working to restore supply to the remaining locations, SEWA officials told Khaleej Times just hours after the outage.

What caused the outage?

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SEWA stated that the temporary power outage was caused by a localised emergency fault in the power network. This triggered the automatic protection systems to maintain network stability. The disconnection was also designed to prevent the fault from spreading to wider areas.

Authorities soon got to work, rectifying the situation. “We are restoring power to several areas and will gradually restore service to the remaining affected areas after ensuring operational safe procedures,” Arabic media quoted SEWA's statement.

The Sharjah Government Media Bureau also confirmed the outage on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as an “unforeseen technical issue.”

Though the outage was described as “sudden and unexpected” in many neighbourhoods, some claimed they received prior notice of scheduled maintenance. A Government of Sharjah notice had planned a power disconnection in Al Majaz 3 from 8am to 2pm.

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