2006-10-10Staff Report 2 "By Michael Liswaniso OPUWO Opuwo was the scene of pouring rains last Sunday, which resulted in pools almost everywhere.. Commonly referred to as ""Opuwo rains"" when the typical dust particles of the slack dust topsoil of the town stood white in the air as if it was snow, the rain that started around 17h00 only ceased at about 21h00. It rained non-stop for about four hours, with bolts of lightning. Though the rain abated around 21h00, the power outage lasted until midnight. Some residents to whom New Era spoke, said it is a common occurrence, especially in smaller towns, for lightning to cause power outage because ""water is a good conductor of electricity"" which is something that normally prompts instability in the electricity lines. In some cases, lightning normally causes burning of some electricity fuses leading to power outages. Though this was the case, the rainfall was welcomed by many residents who said it was a positive development, but I think it just came in a little earlier this year because normally it starts to rain in November here in Opuwo and not early October like this,"" said Selma Gumbo, a resident of the town for many years now. Opuwo is slightly more than 450 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean. The town has no meteorological staff. Previously, the readings of rainfall for the town were provided by the Roads Authority office which had a functional rain gauge then, on a voluntary basis. Frans Niikondo, who is the marketing and communications officer of the Northern Regions Electricity Distributor Company (Nored), was not immediately available for comment yesterday and to shed more light on the power outage. Opuwo's electricity supply comes via the 66 Kilovolts line from the Ruacana hydro power station that can stimulate about 240 megawatts annually, depending on the Kunene River flow. Some pools of rainwater could be spotted in most parts of Opuwo as a result of the heavy downpours recorded at the town on Sunday. Photo by Michael Liswaniso." 2006-10-10Staff Report 2
