Power cut causes day-and-a-half of turmoil on Hydra

The electricity and water supply was finally restored on the Saronic island of Hydra early on Monday afternoon after a day-and-a-half of turmoil for locals and tourists alike. 

A power cut, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, left thousands of visitors to the island without running water or air conditioning for around 35 hours. 

The protracted blackout also caused problems for local residents, including restaurant owners who were unable to cook for customers and hoteliers who were obliged to improvise until the state responded to the problem. 

A water desalination plant on the island did not have a standby generator, meaning that residents had to find other solutions. “We managed the crisis as best we could,” the head of the local hoteliers’ association, Maria Kladaki, told Kathimerini. “We were rushing between the well and the hotel with buckets of water for our guests,” she said, adding that other hoteliers supplied visitors with bottled water and wet wipes. 

The navy delivered two tanks of water early on Monday, but the power remained out and the General Secretariat for Civil Protection declared the island to be in a state of emergency. Eventually, just after 3 p.m., power grid operator DEDDHE said supply had been restored. According to DEDDHE’s announcement, the power cut was caused by two failures in the island’s electricity supply network. 

The Hydra blackout came less than a week after a similar power cut struck much of the capital, causing chaos on the streets and leaving dozens of people stuck in elevators. 

Separately, several parts of Attica had problems with their water supply on Monday.