Over 40 towns in Ogun State’s Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area were plunged into darkness on Sunday due to a severe rainstorm that caused a blackout in Sango-Ota.

On Sunday afternoon, the storm caused traffic disruptions on the Sango-Ota highway by bringing down electrical poles and cables.

Residents are urged not to come into contact with the damaged cables and poles after the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company verified the event.

In a public notice, the IBEDC said, “Due to broken poles occasioned by the heavy downpour at Ota and Mowe, customers in the following communities: lyana lyesi, Osuke Town, Egan Road, lyana Ilogbo, Ijaba, Ijagba, Itele, Lafenwa, Singer, Joju, Alishiba, Oju Ore, Tollgate, Eledi, Akeja, Abebi, Osi Round About, Ota Town, Ota Industrial Estate, Igberen, lju, Atan, Onipanu, Obasanjo, Lusada, Arigba, Odugbe, Ado-Odo, Igbesa, Owode. Olokuta, Hanushi, Bamtish Camp Lufiwape, Eltees Farm, August Engineering, Spark Cear Soap Ayetoro, Amazing Grace Oil, Christopher University, Royal Garden Estate, Pentagon Estate and environs are experiencing power outages.”

The DisCo said that its technical team was working to clean and replace the damaged poles and cables, and it requested locals not to interfere with the electrical installations in an attempt to have them fixed.

“Kindly avoid contact with the broken poles, saggy wires or any other electrical installation affected by the rain. Report any incident and do not attempt to repair or tamper with electrical installations.

“Our technical team is working to clear and replace the broken poles and installations to ensure power supply is restored as soon as possible

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” the IBEDC stated.

Utility poles collapsed on automobiles, trucks, tricycles, and long a school bus, trapping the vehicles in a video that the reporter was able to view.

“All the utility poles have broken down,” there is problem; were spoken in Yoruba by voices behind the video.

The locals were worried that in order to get the poles and cables replaced, they would have to suffer power outages for more than a week.

They did, however, express happiness that nobody died in the tragedy.

“This may take up to a week or more to be repaired. Thank God there was no power supply when this happened,” one of the voices was heard saying.

Previously, it was stated that Sango-Ota locals in the impacted districts have been complaining about a poor power supply since January 2024.