A sudden power failure shut down shopping malls, currency exchanges and some businesses in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, said reports.
A Marina Mall spokesperson was quoted by the Gulf News as saying "it was literally darkness at noon. Cash registers stopped ringing. Escalators, air conditioning and lighting stopped working and customers left."
The lack of power kept some places, like gold shops and currency exchanges, unconnected with the police alarm system, forcing some of them to pull their shutters down.
Similarly, the Abu Dhabi Mall — usually a beehive of activity — was without shoppers after the power failure hit.
Meanwhile, some currency exchanges suspended business starting at noon because they could not accept remittances or instant transfers.
However, said the paper, it was business as usual for banks and the bourse due to their backup power systems.
"Stock trading was carried on as usual with no interruptions to any transaction," Ahmed Humaid Al Mazrouie, director general of the stock exchange, told the paper – Albawaba.com
