The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has attributed Wednesday’s widespread blackout in Casablanca and parts of Nouaceur to the simultaneous failure of four high-voltage transmission lines, saying violent winds and thunderstorms knocked out both the main and backup connections supplying two major substations.
In a statement explaining the outage, the utility said Storm Charles damaged four separate 225-kilovolt lines feeding the Ouled Haddou and Dar Bouazza substations, causing what it described as an exceptionally rare disruption to the electricity network.
The power cut began at 4:55pm, affecting several Casablanca neighborhoods, including the city center, Maârif, El Fida, Aïn Chock, Ben M’sick, Sbata, Sidi Othmane and Hay Hassani.
Bouskoura, Ouled Azzouz and Dar Bouazza in neighboring Nouaceur province were also hit.
According to ONEE, the storm struck the substations’ principal and emergency supply lines at the same time, leaving the affected areas without their usual backup power connections.
The utility said it immediately activated its crisis unit and dispatched technical teams to restore supply as severe weather continued to batter the region.
Power began returning at 6:23pm, about 90 minutes after the outage started. By 8:54pm, electricity had been restored to all affected supply substations, bringing the disruption to an end after three hours and 59 minutes.
The operation was carried out in coordination with local authorities and the Casablanca-Settat Regional Multiservice Company (SRM), with repair teams working in difficult weather conditions.
ONEE apologized to affected customers, saying the outage had been caused by exceptional weather conditions beyond its control.
The utility said it would maintain a heightened state of alert until the storm had passed.
Casablanca plongée dans le noir. (A.Gadouz/Le360)
