Traffic lights out due to a power outage in Yeongjong Sky City, Incheon [Provided by reader]

Residents in the Yeongjong Island area of Incheon experienced significant inconvenience as power was cut off amidst sweltering heat.

According to the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and the Incheon Fire Department on the 13th, a power outage occurred in the area of Yeongjong Sky City, Yeongjong-gu, Incheon, at approximately 5:16 p.m. that day.

The incident left about 2,000 households, including apartments, houses, and commercial buildings, without power. Traffic lights on the roads also ceased to function, forcing police to manually direct traffic.

Furthermore, as of 8:30 p.m. that day, 25 residents were trapped in elevators across apartments and other buildings on Yeongjong Island.

Fire authorities were dispatched to the scene to rescue the trapped residents. Among them, two individuals in their 60s complained of lower back pain and were transported to a hospital by 119 emergency services for treatment.

A resident of Yeongjong Island told Yonhap News over the phone, "Since the power outage began, electricity supply has been repeatedly restored and cut off," adding, "Apartment management staff are unable to leave work and are on standby, fearing that power might be cut off again."

KEPCO's Incheon Headquarters identified a problem with the underground power transmission line equipment leading to the Jungsan Substation as the cause of the outage.

Upon the occurrence of the outage, KEPCO deployed reserve power from the Yeongjong and Eulwang substations and launched emergency restoration efforts. KEPCO explained that as of 10:30 p.m., power supply had been temporarily restored to 1,985 households (96.1%) out of the 2,066 affected.

KEPCO's Incheon Headquarters and Yeongjong-gu issued disaster text messages, urging citizens to "turn off all electrical appliances and exercise caution regarding safety, such as by using flashlights."

KEPCO clarified that this incident is unrelated to the fire that occurred the previous night at 11:06 p.m., when an underground power line at the 12.3km mark of the Yeongjong Bridge caught fire and was extinguished after 1 hour and 18 minutes.

KEPCO plans to set up an emergency response center and continue restoration work throughout the night.

An official from KEPCO's Incheon Headquarters stated, "As electricity usage dropped significantly at night, we were able to supply most of the power by utilizing reserve electricity from other substations," but warned, "There may be changes tomorrow morning as electricity demand increases."

The official added, "We are working to install temporary new distribution lines from other substations to ensure continued power supply," noting that "full restoration is expected to take a considerable amount of time."

The peak temperature in the Yeongjong area of Incheon reached 31.9 degrees Celsius today, and the heat wave advisory that had been in effect since the 11th was lifted at 6:00 p.m.