Western Power crews are working to restore power to homes and business after a ‘once-in-every-five-years’ storm ravaged Western Australia’s south, leaving more than 160,000 homes without power at its peak.
The storm delivered extremely damaging ‘cyclonic grade’ winds, with the strongest gusts reaching 135km/h in some areas.
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Western Power said all available crews were addressing hazards on the network and all non-essential network maintenance work had been cancelled to focus on the storm recovery efforts.
“As part of our preparations, we have brought on additional operational field crews and staff, network operations controllers, call centre staff, and safety resources,” a Western Power spokesperson said.
“Around 12,000 customers across the network are currently affected by outages following severe storm conditions over the weekend, down from around 26,000 yesterday afternoon. The storm damage was significant and widespread across the WA main electricity network.
“Our priority remains responding to reported hazards to ensure the safety of community, our crews, and other agencies. Once hazards have been attended to, crews are able to commence repairs and restoration of power.”
“Estimated restoration times will be updated as our crews continue to assess the damage and repairs required.”
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If you see any damage to the network, it is important for your safety to stay 8m clear and call Western Power on 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
