Most of the areas coming under Madukkarai Division of TANGEDCO plunged into darkness from 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. The blackout followed a burst in the transformer and a fault in an insulator in another area, according to TANGEDCO officials.

The electricity that returned around 12 p.m. was again gone around 4 a.m. It was restored in some areas only around 8 a.m. causing inconvenience to school children and office goers.

The main areas affected were Kovaipudur and a part of Kuniyamuthur and some areas off Palakkad Main Road. Some parts of Kovaipudur got power restored around 9 a.m.

TANGEDCO took another two hours to rectify the fault in other areas, as it had to locate areas one by one, and this was very time consuming as there was a shortage of linemen and also staff, some officials said.

The residents of Kovaipudur, part of a constituency of State Minister, S.P. Velumani, had to face similar problem for four days during the first week of this month, when there were several power cuts – load shedding in official terminology. The area is now witnessing power cuts at least two times in an hour, ranging from five minutes to 15 minutes, as an after affect of the main problem.