Australian Storms Knock out Power to 125,000 homes
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Australian Storms Knock out Power to 125,000 homes *
June 10, 2007 05:09pm
Article from: AAP
MORE than 120,000 homes remain without power after savage storms ripped
through Sydney and coastal regions of NSW over the past three days.
The Lower Hunter and Central Coast are the worst affected areas and
EnergyAustralia says some customers could be without electricity until
late this week.
"Never before has our electricity network sustained such severe damage
across such a widespread area,'' EnergyAustralia executive general
manager network Geoff Lilliss said.
"The extreme weather over the last few days has taken a heavy toll.''
Around 210 electricity technicians are being rushed in from country NSW,
the ACT, Victoria and Queensland to try and restore power to homes.
But Mr Lilliss said crews had been unable to reach some areas due to
extreme flooding and storm damage.
"We are yet to determine the impact on the network in these locations,''
he said.
About 60,000 homes are without power in the Lower Hunter, 60,000 remain
blacked out on the Central Coast and 6,000 Sydney residences are without
electricity.
Integral Energy, which covers western Sydney, the Southern Highlands,
the Blue Mountains and Wollongong, said 400 of its customers were
without power but most should be reconnected by this evening.
"The worst affected area was Bowral, but nothing like the damage that
was sustained in EnergyAustralia's area,'' a spokeswoman said.
EnergyAustralia said it had restored power to the Central Coast's water
supply this afternoon.
"We restored electricity supply to pumping stations and treatment plants
to secure the water supply in that area,'' a spokeswoman said.