Tropical Cyclone Alfred Update - 9 March

AFTERNOON UPDATE

Our response

• Despite atrocious conditions, our crews restored power to another 94,000 homes today, as our teams tackled major network damage from cyclonic winds overnight.
• Our teams have restrung lines, restood poles and replaced smashed crossarms and hardware on sections of the network across SEQ. At 5pm, 252,000 Energex customers were off supply, down from the 1am peak of 346,000.
• Our thanks to customers for their patience and our crews can certainly empathise with them because many of them too, have no power at their homes, but get up each day to restore power to the community.

Safety tips

• Switch off cooking equipment. Some people may have been using electric ovens and hotplates when the cyclone cut their power. Ensure they are switched to the off position because power may be restored while the appliance is unattended.
• Floodwaters and electricity. Don’t enter any floodwaters that are inundating our electrical assets. There’s a possibility the water surrounding the equipment may become energised.
• Read more on our website: Keeping safe in severe weather.

MORNING UPDATE

Our response

• Crews did an outstanding job yesterday restoring customers to the network, however damaging winds and intense rainfall from the tail end of ex-TC Alfred overnight continued to impact the network affecting around Energex 80,000 customers and 20,000 customers in the Toowoomba region.
• Our damage assessing crews continued working overnight and our Control Room technicians were able to restore power to parts of the Gold Coast area.
• Our repair crews are on their way to their respective depots to stage and hit the road once the severe winds currently being experienced ease to a safe enough velocity to get our bucket trucks in the air again.
• We need to repeat our safety messages from yesterday because they are vital right now.
• Below is a screenshot from Energex power outages: Energex Emergency Outages
• Ergon Energy Network power outages: Outage Finder

Generators

• Safety remains a critical issue - if you’re using a generator ensure it is outside of the home and in a well-ventilated area. Electricity from generators must be treated with the same safety respect you do with power from a home power point. It is still 240 volts!
• Read more on generator safety on our website.

Fallen powerlines

• There are still more than 1,000 wires down, so it is essential to always stay clear of fallen powerlines and leave it to the experts to come and safely remove them.
• Remember to triple check there are no powerlines entangled in fallen vegetation and debris before moving it.
• Report any fallen powerlines to:
  • Energex (SEQ) on 13 19 62
  • Ergon Energy Network on 13 16 70