Nearly 100 Communities in Russia's Dagestan Lose Power After Storm
A local grid failure caused by severe weather left 89 villages and towns in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan without electricity on Monday. Repairs are expected to be completed around 8 p.m. Moscow time.
A total of 89 villages and towns in Dagestan, a republic in Russia's North Caucasus, lost electricity on Monday, 9 November, after bad weather knocked out a local electrical grid. The figure comes from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, as cited by the Interfax news agency. Dagestan is among the poorest regions in Russia, and utility failures there are common.
The outage followed two days of heavy rain, snowfall and high winds. The ministry has not yet said how many people were affected or in which part of the republic the blackout was concentrated.
Emergency officials say repair crews are working to restore the supply. They expect the work to be finished at about 8 p.m. Moscow time on Monday.
Worn-out infrastructure
Power cuts and other utility breakdowns are a regular occurrence in Dagestan. In 2024, the republic's housing ministry estimated that about 70% of its municipal infrastructure was critically worn out.
Infrastructure problems also fuelled public anger earlier this year, during deadly floods in the republic. Outrage over how infrastructure performed during the floods is believed to have contributed to President Vladimir Putin's decision in May to dismiss Dagestan's former head, Sergei Melikov.
