Update – Power outages across western Victoria

As at 10.45am, Thursday 29 August

Powercor has restored power to more than 20,000 customers across western and central Victoria following yesterday’s severe windstorm.

Field crews are continuing to repair damaged power lines, poles and other infrastructure and are working to restore power to 320 customers without supply.

The hardest hit areas are in the Colac and Otway region, with crews from Ballarat and Warrnambool deployed to the region to support local crews.

We are deploying drones to inspect parts of the power network in and around Carlisle River and Gellibrand, where the difficult terrain can make it challenging to patrol.

We would remind people to stay well away from fallen powerlines, always assume they are live and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12.

A generator is now located in Apollo Bay (pictured below) and a second generator will be transported to the town. While power was restored to Apollo Bay last night, the generators will be on standby and available if further outages occur over coming days.

Later today, our Mobile Emergency Response Vehicle (known as MERV) will be providing on-the-ground advice to community members impacted by outages. MERV will provide people a place to charge mobile phones and other devices, a wifi hot spot, coffee and information about the current situation.

We will notify the community of the exact location later this morning.

This has been a difficult time for many customers and we want to thank them for their patience and understanding as we work to repair the network and get power back on.

We have information available on our website about steps customers can take to reconnect power if their supply on their premises has been damaged during this storm.

Visit www.Powercor.com.au/emergency

As at 7pm, Wednesday 28 August

Our Geelong crews are currently on their way to Apollo Bay with two 1250KVA HV generators after today’s wild weather impacted the area.

Destructive winds brought down trees over powerlines that supply the town and surrounding region and while crews are currently working on repairing the extensive damage, power outages will continue. Currently more than 5,500 customers in the region are without power.

The two generators will supply power to some critical infrastructure within Apollo Bay and we hope to have them connected later tonight.

Thanks to all customers for their patience and understanding following the severe weather.

 

As at 3.30pm, Wednesday 28 August

Powercor teams are working to restore power to more than 6,400 homes and businesses as wild winds continue to batter parts of Victoria and cause damage to the electricity network.

The destructive winds are bringing down branches, trees and other debris over powerlines and damaging other electrical assets.

In one case, we have had a report of a shed blowing into a high voltage line in Camperdown and leading to an outage.

We have deployed extra crews into the field to repair damaged infrastructure and get power back on safely and quickly. At this stage, we are responding to over 100 separate fault jobs, including 20 fallen powerlines.

The hardest hit area is in our southern region and southwest coast, with wind gusts up to 120kmh recorded. We are working to get power back on to 5,677 customers in the region and are moving crews from other areas into the area to support our response. One of the outages, impacting 1,220 customers, was caused by a car hitting a pole in Gellibrand.

If people do see a fallen powerline, they should stay well away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12. Please always assume a powerline is live.

Due to the large volumes of faults and complexity of some of the damage, restoration times will be longer than usual. At this stage, some customers may be without power into tomorrow.

We will keep customers updated via SMS and our outage map.

 

As at 8.15am, Wednesday 28 August

Powercor crews are working to restore power to more than 800 customers as destructive winds push through Victoria.

Overnight and this morning, wind gusts up to 120km/hr have been recorded in parts of the network, with the wild winds bringing down trees and branches onto power poles, wires and other infrastructure.

Our crews are responding to more than 40 individual jobs, with the hardest hit area along Victoria’s southern region and along the south-west coast.

If people see a fallen powerline, they should always stay more than 10 metres away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12.

Throughout today, we’re expecting these severe winds to continue battering western and central Victoria and we’re urging people to take steps to prepare for power outages now.

We will continue to keep people updated via SMS and the outage map.

Over the past few days, we’ve been monitoring these extreme weather conditions and have extra crews, control room operators, customer centre representatives and other resources responding as we focus on getting power back on to our customers as safely and as quickly as possible.

 

Advice for preparing for power outages

Be Safe.

• Have a back-up plan ready if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items to care for babies, the disabled, elderly or pets.
• Plan to keep food safe. Set your fridge to 5 degrees (5^oC) or below.  An unopened fridge will keep food for about four hours.
• Have plenty of drinking water available if your supply relies on power.

Be Smart.

• Download the VicEmergency app and keep emergency phone numbers handy.
• Know how to connect computers and tablets to your mobile phone’s hotspot.
• Back-up computer files.
• Know how to open electric garage doors and gates manually.

Be Ready.

• Charge mobile phones, laptops and portable back-up batteries.
• If you have a rooftop solar system or a battery, check that it is able to operate in a power outage.
• If you plan to use a diesel generator, make sure it’s fully fuelled, operational and that you know how to safely operate it.
• Have a battery-powered radio available for real time news updates.
• Keep battery-powered lamps or torches handy.