GORAKHPUR, May 24 -- Amid an intense heatwave spell, residents across urban and rural areas of Gorakhpur and Basti divisions are facing prolonged power outages, forcing many to spend sleepless nights outdoors.

The crisis has deepened as an average of six to eight transformers are reportedly catching fire daily in Deoria district, while frequent tripping and unscheduled cuts in Gorakhpur have added to people's woes. Residents said power supply was snapping almost every hour, with outages lasting around 10 minutes each time.

More than one lakh people in around 360 villages of the Tarkulaha and Bariyar areas remained without electricity for nearly 20 hours after a sudden breakdown at the 132 KV substation in Kasya. Power department teams l...