Power outage at Dubai Mall leaves shoppers in the dark
Power was restored at the world’s largest mall more than an hour later at around 8.45pm
An estimated 90-minute power outage caused by a transfer of highvoltage cables suspended operations and left thousands of shoppers in the dark in the Dubai Mall last night.
Mall visitors said the power outage started at around 7.13pm, plunging the mall into darkness except for some emergency lights. Some shops and restaurants had to close down for security reasons. Power was restored at the world’s largest mall more than an hour later at around 8.45pm. Despite the power outage, many mall visitors continued to shop — using their smartphone’s flashlights.
Officials from the Dubai Mall confirmed the outage in a statement sent to Gulf News: “We regret the inconvenience caused and thank our visitors for their patience.”
A spokesperson for the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said the power outage was caused by the transfer of high-voltage cables from the Dubai Mall substation, based on a request from Emaar, Dubai Mall’s developer.
“Dewa and Emaar had previously agreed to transfer the cables. During the transfer, the outage occurred, because one line went out of service. Dewa’s technicians have fully restored power to normal service,” the spokesperson said. “The supply of electricity and water in the rest of the area was not affected,” he added.
Gulf News reader Klaudia Isabella described the scene inside the sprawling shopping complex: “Very calm, people are walking towards exits, shops are closed. Mall starts getting empty. The power is still off.”
During the blackout, Dubai Mall staff were seen assisting people to get out of the elevators, powered by backup generators.
The power outage is the first to be reported at the mall. Sally, a sales clerk, told Gulf News: “I’ve been working in this mall for a long time, and this is the first time it happened.”
Retail shops also suspended all debit and credit card payment transactions and asked shoppers to leave.
“It’s been dark for around 50 minutes, they did the fountain show at 7pm, then everything went completely dark,” said a mall shopper. “We thought it was part of the show.”