Storm Cuts Power across Lebanon as EDL Contract Workers Go On with Strike

A severe snow and rain storm across Lebanon has caused blackouts across the country where Electricite du Liban contract workers have also been on strike for several days, residents and officials said on Thursday.

"There is a storm, and there is a problem in the grid. The electricity workers are on strike, and they're not letting anyone fix the problem," Energy Minister Jebran Bassil told Agence France Presse.

Residents in several Beirut districts and in snow-capped mountain areas reported via social network sites that the blackout began on Wednesday night affecting electrical supply, heating and hot water boilers.

"Our boiler works with electricity, so of course we have no hot water," said Elsa, a housekeeper living in Beirut, adding that her family has been struggling to find ways to keep warm.

EDL announced on Thursday that the blackout in Beirut was caused by a malfunction in a 220-kilovolt cable connecting the Aramoun and al-Horj main stations.

The blackout affected downtown Beirut, al-Horj, Ain al-Mreisseh, Ras Beirut, al-Mkalles, and Beirut's southern suburbs, as well as the northern section of the Metn coast.

EDL added that it would not be possible to repair the malfunction due to the ongoing strike by its employees.

The employees began an open-ended strike earlier this week, even as the storm gained in intensity, with rain, snow and high winds battering the country and the region.

On Tuesday EDL urged employees to go back to work but the following day the workers vowed to press on with the strike saying their union "has not received any positive signs" concerning their demands.

The strike was called to renegotiate the salaries of employees with the finance ministry in line with allocations it made under the 2013 budget.

Chronic power shortages since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war have been a main source of grievance among citizens who must put up with daily rationing.

The storm that has been battering the country since the weekend is one of the worst to have hit the country in at least a decade, an airport weather expert has said.

It has killed at least four people, including a man who froze to death as fell asleep drunk in his car in the eastern Bekaa Valley and a baby swept away in a flash flood.

Schools have been shut nationwide since Tuesday.