Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The sudden power outage on the island of Tutuila on Saturday morning August 19, 2023 took ASPA workers about five hours to bring to a close and a full recovery. 

The break down happened at about 7:15am while most people were out and about getting the weekend ready for Sabbath.

The challenge faced by most residents residing in the Eastern side of Tutuila was when all three commodities went down at about the same time, Electricity, Water and Telephone Services.

According to ASPA Management's public explanation at 0715hrs stated, "The Satala Power Plant caught fire and damaged two generators. The Satala Plant was currently offline until an assessment was done to see if the remaining generators can be put back online.

That has taken a while and ASPA apologized for this power outage that had continued to affect Utulei all the way to Onenoa.

The power was restored at the Tafuna Power Plant and most of the west side was to be restored shortly.

The ASPA water teams were out to make sure water pressure is maintained throughout the island and emergency protocols are in place to make sure water was not impacted too much on the east side.

HERE IS A TIMELINE

 By 1015 hrs, ASPA sent out another alert concerning the effects of the power outage impacting the water system.

Whereas The ASPA water crews were working to maintain the water pressure in the system and had asked the public to please conserve water until they can get the power situation resolved.

ASPA also asked that any car washes or other high water uses be stopped or kept to a minimum so the water system can maintain water pressure.

The crews were going around the island to talk to car washes and to explain the need to stop high water use including any water use at home that may require a lot of water. 

Advising the public to hold off excess use of water until they resolve the power issues in Satala.

Water crews were also installing back-up generators at key water wells on the east side and monitoring water levels on the west side.

 By 1000 hours, following ASPA's updated information, The assessment for the Satala Power Plant was ongoing and for safety purposes, they were going to work on putting on the functional generators, but couldn't provide an estimated time for power to be on as they needed to test the remaining 5 generators.

Two generators were impacted in Satala and the power plant is still in operation thanks to the fire sprinkler system and quick response from Search & Rescue (Fire Department).

Five hours later, ASPA has the Power Restored to the east side as of 12:15pm on Sat 8/19/23.

Stating that, 4 of the 5 remaining generator units were then online and supplying power to the East side.

P&G crews were working on the 5th generator for supply back up while the Water crews were working to restore water pressure back to normal to make sure the water tanks had recovered from the low water pressure.

ASPA then thanked everyone for their continued patience.