Daegu apartment complex of 1,200 units suffers overnight power outage during heatwave

Residents of a 1,200-unit apartment complex in Daegu, South Korea, experienced significant disruption when a power outage struck late Tuesday night, plunging the entire complex into darkness for over six hours. The incident occurred amidst a severe heatwave, with daytime temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and nighttime lows remaining above 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit), creating oppressive tropical night conditions.

The power failure began at approximately 11:34 PM and was not resolved until 5:40 AM the following morning. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) identified a malfunction in the apartment complex's internal power distribution equipment as the cause. During the prolonged outage, residents were left without essential cooling, forcing many to endure the sweltering heat throughout the night.

Some residents resorted to waiting in their cars with the air conditioning running until power was restored. Local authorities from the Suseong-gu district office provided bottled water to displaced residents and opened the Gosan 3-dong community center as a temporary cooling shelter. Fortunately, no injuries or safety incidents were reported as a direct result of the power outage.