Residents Describe Life Without Power in Murmansk Oblast

A state of emergency has been declared in Murmansk Oblast: power supply lines have not yet been restored in the region. For the third day now, power outages in residential buildings continue in Murmansk and Severomorsk due to the collapse of power line supports.

We asked residents of the North how they are coping during this time.

— Severomorsk is out of the dark! For the first time since the outage, power came on 20 minutes ago, and I can properly access Telegram. In Severomorsk, only VK (VKontakte) is available without Wi-Fi. The batteries are fine. We had both cold and hot water all the time. I«ve never seen so many people helping each other. Most likely, in a couple of hours we»ll be back in darkness, — said Yulia, a resident of Severomorsk.

— Where are the outage schedules? Where is the promised rolling blackouts? Khalatina, 10 and 12, as an example. In building 10, the power was cut off about 3–4 hours later, but it was turned on in both buildings at the same time. Now Khalatina, 12 has no power, while Khalatina, 10, which is 30 meters away, is all lit up, — writes an anonymous user.

— Oh, I hope they fix everything soon. We«ve been sitting without any connection at all for days. They cut us off completely. On the first day, we could charge small devices, and the LED bulbs gave a little light. At 23:00, we were completely disconnected. There was no electricity, no hot water, no heating. The power came back on around 8–9 a.m. and lasted until noon. The radiators warmed up a bit. We»re very lucky that we have gas, so we can at least cook. All my husband«s relatives have electric stoves. And their power supply is even worse than ours, — said Maria from Chumbaroza-Luchinskogo Street.

Alina lives in the Pervomaysky District on Orlikova Street:

— Overall, the situation hasn«t affected me at all. The power, water, and heating are as they were. It»s dark in the yard, but that doesn«t bother me.

— What kind of street energy saving is this? On Karla Marksa, 48, the entrance garlands are sparkling, while people can«t even heat a kettle. In all buildings with gas equipment in the Oktyabrsky District, the lights are on, but where there are electric stoves, there»s no electricity, — a Murmansk resident complains.

Maria, a resident of the Pervomaysky District, says:

— We«re among the lucky ones whom the accident hasn»t affected in terms of daily life. It«s warm at home, with water and power. But work-wise, the load has increased. For example, my husband works at a fish processing plant. The company»s building is exactly in the Leninsky District, where the main city outages occurred. On Saturday, my husband had to go to his colleagues« workplace to help save raw materials — to send them to the cold storage plant.

— There was no way to find out information about help points in time, the internet wasn«t working, the mobile network was weak. There»s been no power since January 23, and it wasn«t turned on once on the 24th. The heating was also cut off on Friday, and it only started coming back after 14:00 on the 24th, but in the stairwell, not in the apartment. It»s good that we have gas. We were left without accessible information. In operating stores, they could and should have posted information about these points, — writes Lyubov on social networks.

— Gagarina Street isn«t on any list. There»s been no power for over a day now, — note residents of Murmansk.

— I«m currently on Sverdlova Street. There»s heating, cold and hot water are available, but there«s absolutely no light, none at all, — reported Murmansk resident Andrey.

The prosecutor«s office of Murmansk Oblast has already launched an investigation due to the mass power outages. A criminal case has been initiated. It turned out that the fallen power line supports had been in service for almost 60 years.

Murmansk residents were told where they can go to warm up and charge electronic devices. And city entrepreneurs are ready to provide food from their main menu at a discount. Interactive maps have also been prepared for citizens.

In the Leninsky District, rotational power outages have been introduced. The addresses where electricity will be cut off are being updated.

At help points for boiling water and charging, queues are forming.

All important and current information about power outages in Murmansk and the oblast is published in our online coverage.