Devastating floods triggered by days of relentless rainfall have crippled key electricity transmission facilities in Lagos State, forcing the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to declare force majeure and plunging thousands of homes and businesses into darkness.
The development followed severe flooding that inundated parts of the state, disrupting electricity supply to communities served by the affected transmission infrastructure and raising fresh concerns over the vulnerability of Nigeria’s power assets to extreme weather conditions.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, TCN’s General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, announced that the company had declared force majeure on the Oworonshoki 132/33KV and Lekki 330/132KV Transmission Substations as a result of persistent flooding caused by continuous rainfall.
According to the company, the Oworonshoki 132/33KV Transmission Substation has been completely knocked out of service after rising floodwaters submerged critical equipment, including two major power transformers, bringing operations at the facility to a standstill.
TCN explained that while the Lekki 330/132KV Transmission Substation remains functional because emergency pumping operations are continuously removing water from the premises, the situation at Oworonshoki has deteriorated beyond immediate recovery efforts.
The company disclosed that two transformers—TR1 with a capacity of 60MVA and TR3 with a capacity of 30MVA—tripped despite repeated attempts at restoration because their protection and control systems had been overtaken by floodwaters.
“Although Lekki 330/132KV Transmission Substation is in service as water is continuously being pumped out of the station, Oworonshoki 132/33KV Transmission Substation, on the other hand, is currently not in service as the level of water has affected two power transformers TR1 – 60 MVA and TR3 – 30 MVA that tripped on no load even after attempted restoration.
“Presently, all power protection and control cables of the two power transformers are submerged inside water and efforts to evacuate the water have proved ineffective as the rain continues to fall,” the statement read.
TCN said engineers have been deployed to the affected site and are battling to drain the floodwaters before conducting comprehensive integrity tests on the damaged transformers to determine when electricity supply can safely resume.
“Our engineers are working, doing everything possible to evacuate the flood to enable them to test the transformers for restoration,” the company stated.
The outage has intensified public concern over the resilience of Nigeria’s power infrastructure, with critics arguing that critical national assets remain dangerously exposed to environmental disasters despite recurring floods in major cities.
Residents and business owners in affected communities have lamented the blackout, warning that prolonged power disruptions could worsen economic losses and compound the hardships already being faced amid rising living costs.
TCN apologised to customers of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) affected by the disruption, expressing regret over the inconvenience and assuring consumers that restoration efforts would continue as soon as weather conditions permit.
“TCN regrets every inconvenience this might cause EKEDC’s customers taking supply from the substations,” the company added.