On Sunday, 9th February, the country of Sri Lanka faced 6 hour-long nationwide power outage after a monkey caused disruption at a Colombo suburb grid station. Following this, the island experienced a 90-minute power cut on Monday, 10th February and the authorities have stated that the country might face the same on Tuesday, 11th February.
Energy minister Kumara Jayakody commented on the matter and stated that a monkey came into contact with the grid transformer at the Colombo suburb grid station, causing an imbalance in the power system. As per the reports, the power cut began at 11.00 local time (05:30 GMT) on Sunday and it forced the authorities to rely on generators. However, later it was informed that the restoring power could take crucial time.
The event led to a breakdown at the Norochcholai coal power plant, which further resulted in scheduled power cuts on Monday and Tuesday for around 90 minutes.
The Ceylon Electricity Board, the state power entity issued a statement on Sunday confirming that a 90-minute power cut would be imposed in two slots between 3 pm and 9.30 pm. “Sunday’s sudden power outage forced the operations at Lakvijaya power station to shut,” it added.
Several persons shared posts on social media regarding the issue. They stated that a monkey was enough to create chaos in the lives of Sri Lankan people. “Sri Lanka’s Internet Usage Dropped by 51% – Because of a Monkey? A bizarre nationwide power failure took down half the country’s internet yesterday,” one of the users said.
🚨Sri Lanka’s Internet Usage Dropped by 51% – Because of a Monkey?🐒⚡
— Ajithkumar (@ajithkumarkdas) February 10, 2025
A bizarre nationwide power failure took down half the country's internet yesterday. Let’s break it down 🧵👇
🔴 A monkey allegedly triggered the outage. Yes, you heard me right….#Srilanka #InternetOutage pic.twitter.com/nnrDWLHyc6
“Sri Lanka has an ancient history of losing to monkeys! Island nationwide power outage,” another one said referring to the times of Ramayana when Ravana lost war with the army of monkeys led by Lord Rama.
Sri Lanka has an ancient history of losing to monkeys! 😁. Island nation wide power outage. pic.twitter.com/HSpwDGYX51
— DP SATISH (@dp_satish) February 9, 2025
A monkey causing a nationwide power outage was not on my bingo card 😂🤣 Sri Lanka you've the best news headline trophy for the year already pic.twitter.com/IA6AY5F70S
— AAD!3 💟💜 (@1_3Aadz) February 10, 2025
The Ceylon Electricity Board eventually put up a notice on its website saying, “We are making every effort to restore the island-wide power failure as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.”
Notably, following the power outage scheduled, several people are expressing concerns about the rising temperatures, lack of internet network due to lack of electricity supply to the network towers, and also temporary shortage of water supply, probably due to stoppage of electric pumps or motors.
