The electrical substation that supplies power to the pumps at the Santo Domingo Water and Sewers Corporation (CAASD) Salinity Barrier Station suffered a lightning strike on Sunday 18 August. A major transformer was burned up, taking the pumps out of service and leaving thousands of people without any water. Firemen from Santo Domingo East put out the fire and CAASD director Alejandro Montas visited the scene to inspect the damage. Apparently the substation did not have a lightning conductor. Residents in the Ramon Matias Mella Avenue and San Isidro Avenue area were most seriously affected by the outage. Montas said that he would return at 10am today, Monday 19 August to decide how to reestablish service as fast as possible.