Storm knocks out power across Casablanca and nearby areas
A fault in the national transmission network left several Casablanca districts and Nouaceur province without electricity on Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday, November 11, brought thunderstorms and strong gusts that damaged Morocco's national high-voltage transmission network, cutting power across Casablanca and neighbouring areas. The Casablanca-Settat Regional Multiservice Company (SRM) said the outage began at 4:48 p.m. after an extra-high-voltage line operated by the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) failed under the weather.
The fault cut supply to several SRM substations serving homes, shops and factories. Central Casablanca, Maârif, Al Fida, Aïn Chock, Ben M'Sik, Sbata, Sidi Othmane and Hay Hassani were hit, along with Bouskoura, Oulad Azzouz and Dar Bouazza in Nouaceur province. Traffic lights at major junctions went dark during the evening rush.
SRM said the failure started in ONEE's transmission grid, not its own distribution system, and that its teams were working with ONEE and switching supply routes to limit the impact. The company apologised to customers and described the fault as beyond its control, but did not say how many customers were affected or when full service would return.
Why it mattersHouseholds, shops and factories in eight Casablanca districts and three Nouaceur communities lost power in the late afternoon.