‘Look out for each other’: Third night without power for thousands across WA

Thousands of homes across Western Australia are still without power or any clear idea when it will be restored, after freak storm fronts tore through the state and brought down 50-metre-tall transmission towers that “crumpled like tinfoil.”

On Friday, Premier Roger Cook said the storms were both unprecedented in their ferocity and in their focus.

“Wednesday’s storm was a freak weather event and was quite unprecedented, and will give us cause to reflect in terms of how we move forward into the future to protect these important utilities,” he said.

“To give you an idea of the severity of these storms, these towers are well over 50 metres high.”

The second front caused extensive damage to WA’s main electricity network in the Central Wheatbelt and Goldfields on Wednesday after residents in the Perth Hills were impacted by the first front on Tuesday.

On Friday morning, Perth Hills still had 3500 customers without power, down from the original more than 30,000. More than 340 wires and poles were lost in the Hills alone.

The Wheatbelt still has 2000 people without power. Kalgoorlie has 1700 people waiting.

Perth Hills and Wheatbelt customers are expected to be reconnected over the next 48 hours, and Kalgoorlie customers by Friday afternoon.

Gidgegannup resident Veronica Smith is on her fourth day without power, but had mobile service restored on Friday morning.

She received a text from Western Power telling her the power would be back in an hour, only to receive a second text just five minutes later telling her it was still being investigated.

“Our area was decimated by the storm. We got lucky as we only had some damage to the fences, but neighbours had rainwater tanks ripped out and fallen trees on their property,” Smith said.

“Up here, if you have no power you also have no running water which means you can’t shower, use the taps, flush the toilet. We have had to carry buckets from the rainwater tank to use.”

She said they were lucky as they had been able to fill their tank from a bore on their property, but said others were not as lucky, as a lack of rainfall meant the water levels were low.

Smith also said many were relying on generators to keep necessary items like a fridge running.

“Out generator actually blew up before Christmas, but we managed to borrow one. We are using it to run a fridge but out here you stock up on food, and we lost a conservative $2000 in groceries,” she said.

“Those first few days of the outage were also awfully hot. Sleeping has been hard.”

Western Power Executive Asset Operations Zane Christmas said though current restoration times were still being determined, the aim was to restore power to more customers on Friday.

More than 700 skilled field and operations personnel were making repairs on the ground.

Multiple poles and wires needed repairing or replacing and they were prioritising critical services infrastructure.

Further out from Perth, the main transmission line that supplied Kalgoorlie-Boulder with power sustained significant damage, with five large transmission towers downed, some around 50 metres tall, along with hundreds of kilometres of wires.

Christmas said Western Power’s engineering teams had devised a temporary solution to successfully power around 10,000 customers in the Goldfields via the undamaged section of the line using a lower voltage network while they worked on the repairing the five towers, which was expected to take some time.

While some power has been restored, he said, there could still be intermittent outages due to this interim solution’s lower capacity.

“To help with power restoration efforts and maintain supply, we ask customers to please limit energy use if you have power, or once you are reconnected,” he said.

WA Police said teams were working round the clock to help the community.

“Major hospitals are operational, and police and emergency services are upping patrols,” a spokeswoman said.

“Emergency services are urging the affected communities to look out for each other. Check on vulnerable neighbours and community members.”

Customers who have experienced an outage longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment once power is reconnected.

Premier Cook said payments to those in the Goldfields, Perth Hills and the Wheatbelt would be doubled to $240 to assist with buying food and other necessary household items.

He has asked Energy Minister Reece Whitby to provide him with a resilience package to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Stay up to date with the latest updates on the Western Power website.

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