Post-storm outages hit Pardubice, Rychnov and Central Bohemia hardest

Two waves of thunderstorms in Czechia caused power outages. Overnight, up to 10,500 households in eastern Bohemia were without electricity, while this morning nearly 10,000 supply points, mainly in Central Bohemia, had no power. Faults in eastern Bohemia had been almost entirely cleared by morning. Soňa Holingerová, spokeswoman for energy company ČEZ, told ČTK.

Overnight thunderstorms caused outages particularly in the Pardubice and Hradec Králové regions, as well as in Vysočina. At around 01:00, 10,500 households were without power, particularly in the Pardubice, Chrudim and Rychnov areas; seven of the 13 faults on high-voltage lines were in the Pardubice Region. Energy workers gradually cleared the outages, with around 4,500 locations in eastern Bohemia without electricity at around 02:00, falling to hundreds by 09:00.

However, morning thunderstorms caused new outages. Of the 9,800 supply points without power at 09:00, around 7,500 were in the Central Bohemian Region and around 1,000 in the Liberec Region. "We are in the field, working to restore supplies," Holingerová said. She expects all supply points to be reconnected during the day.

According to the ČEZ spokeswoman, the situation was worse than overnight during the previous weekend, when nighttime thunderstorms left up to 30,000 households without electricity at one point. The largest number of people were without power in Central Bohemia, but supplies were mostly restored overnight, Holingerová said.