Two hours every three days: electricity outage in Syria’s Tel Tamr
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Kamal Amin, a resident of Tel Tamr, north of northeast Syria, sits under the trees in front of his house due to the lack of electricity.
Since mid-February, Tel Tamr and dozens of the towns of the Hasakah region have been suffering from an almost complete power outage after Turkey seized the water of the Euphrates Dam.
“For four days, the electricity has come only for two hours, and both hours were at midnight; we did not benefit from them,” Amin said.
Amin suffers from chronic heart disease, and the doctors advised him to rest in a comfortable environment to avoid any complications.
“We cannot operate the fridges, we don’t have cold water, and my children have been exposed to health problems due to the high temperature,” he added.
“We cannot afford to buy a generator for our children,” he explained.
Recently, the Hasakah region has been witnessing a severe heat wave, where temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) during peak hours, according to Syrian meteorology.
The absence of electricity and sweltering temperatures cause the spread of seasonal diseases in Tel Tamr. The clinics and the hospital in the town are receiving dozens of cases of water-borne illness and enteritis, according to the Health Directorate in the town.
“Every three days, we have two hours of electricity,” said Ala’ al-Yateem, a Tel Tamr resident.
Most of the residents of the town resort to generators, but they face difficulties in securing gasoline because it is missing most of the time in fuel stations and it is expensive in the black market.
Al-Yateem added that the power outage pushed them to use LEDs and flashlights to light their houses during the evening.
With the increase of the electricity rationing hours in the Euphrates Dam, which was feeding all northeast areas, the Electricity Directorate of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Hasakah has dedicated al-Jibisa water station, located near Shaddadi city, to feed all cities and towns in the region.
However, the capacity of the station is 30 megawatts only, and cannot feed the entire Hasakah region with electricity.
“After Turkey seized the water of the Euphrates River, six water stations were moved to feed from al-Jibisa station,” said Fahad Smaila, Administrator in the Electricity Department in Tel Tamr.
“Al-Jibisa station was dedicated to feed Shaddadi city only, not the six other water stations,” he added.
However, “due to the situation and the unavailability of electricity, we were forced to feed the region from al-Jibisa station in order for civilians to benefit from the electricity for about three or four hours according to the potential,” he referred.
“Six stations have been divided into two sections, where every three stations receive power for one day,” he pointed out.
“The time of feeding is decided by al-Jibisa station,” according to Smaila.