Western Power outages WA: More than 30,000 in darkness, no fuel, generators selling out after storm chaos

Wheatbelt and Goldfields residents have been warned they could be without power for up to seven days after a raging thunderstorm significantly damaged the electricity network.

At least 31,500 homes and business were without power in the Perth Hills, Wheatbelt, Goldfields and Great Southern regions on Thursday morning as Western Power struggled to restore major outages across a significant proportion of its network.

Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Kellerberrin and surrounds were plunged into darkness on Wednesday evening, with more than 23,000 losing power due to severe thunderstorms damaging the transmission line that supplies Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

By Thursday night, many were preparing for their third night in darkness with 9200 still without power.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said outages in the Wheatbelt and Goldfields were impacting the power supply, water supply, telephone services, internet connection, fuel stations and retail outlets and residents should be prepared for power outages to last up to seven days.

“People planning travel to the area should reconsider their plans,” it warned. “Non-essential travel should be postponed.”

Western Power acting executive asset performance Archana Viswanathan said engineering teams were assessing options for restoration including supplying the undamaged section of the 220KV line via the 132KV network to get the Kalgoorlie townsite reconnected as soon as possible.

She added they were unable to provide an exact restoration time for people impacted as damage assessments and repairs continue.

“We assure the community we’re looking for solutions and are working with other agencies to provide support,” she said.

“Getting the power back on to normal operations will take a number of days and we are prioritising critical services infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, communities, and police.

“We ask the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community to please be patient, we know the impact power outages on families and businesses, and we are doing everything we can to restore power.”

Five large transmission towers — made of steel and standing at a height of 50 metres — have been significantly damaged and “thousands of kilometres” worth of wires along the grid have also been downed.

People experiencing an outage for more than 12 hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is available again.

Generators are flying off the shelves, people are throwing out hundreds of dollars’ worth of food and in a worrying sign of the state of telco infrastructure in WA, some Wheatbelt residents remain unable to call triple-0 for the second day in a row.

Amid the chaos, there is no fuel available in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie due to the power outage — fuel that is used to run back-up generators.

In the Central Wheatbelt, as well as knocking out power, severe thunderstorms also hit a key main off the Goldfields Pipeline — the main water supply to Kalgoorlie and nearby eastern towns — knocking the pipe off its support blocks and causing it to burst in five places.

The Water Corporation said some smaller communities and farmlands are likely to run out of water, pleading with customers to “limit all non-essential water use” after the widespread power outages disrupted water supply.

But the corporation was unable to provide more information on which communities were most affected because the power outages had also affected communications.

“Major water users, including local governments, businesses and mining operations, are cooperating to help maintain drinking water supplies to local communities,” it said in a statement.

WA Police say they have increased patrols in affected areas and that major hospitals are still operational.

“All relevant government agencies have just met and will be working around the clock to resolve the issue,” WA Police said in a Facebook post on Thursday night.

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

City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor Glenn Wilson on Thursday night said the Kalgoorlie Airport remained operational and that some supermarkets were only processing cash sales.

“What we’d like you to do at the moment is to stay indoors and to keep hydrated. It is very warm across the city today and it will be over the next couple of days,” he said.

The first swathe of major outages were triggered on Tuesday after a severe thunderstorm lashed the Perth Hills, bringing hailstones, rain, and cyclone-level winds.

It’s understood the network damage is a result of lightning strikes during the storm.

About 7000 customers in the Perth Hills are on day three of no power, with hundreds forced to take matters into their own hands and buy their own generators.

Camping and hardware stores in the area have reported a spike in sales, with several sold each day since Tuesday.

Bencubbin resident Ann Tuppen said she was without power and phone service from about 5pm on Tuesday.

“We were lent a generator by a local farmer, that’s been powering the fridge and fan (and) that hooked us up to the internet,” Ms Tuppen said.

“Phones have only just come back on this morning and overnight.”

She said the only store in town had no EFTPOS operating due to the network outages, and was cash only.

It means the fuel to run the many generators being bought up also needs to be paid in cash.

The Wheatbelt resident said she loved living in the region but said the woeful and slow response from emergency services and utilities had left her in disbelief.

“If anyone wanted to do something to Australia, just take the power out and we’re all screwed,” she said.

It’s like third-world problems, we put man on the moon, and we can’t get phone calls within our own state.

Telstra’s regional general manager for WA Boyd Brown said more than 180 network sites were without access to mains power Thursday morning.

“While all our major network sites have battery backup in place for short term outages, as the mains power remains off for an extended time many of these sites have since failed,” he said.

Mr Brown said the telco giant was actively working with the State Operations Centre, state and local governments, other network carriers, emergency services and Western Power to “ensure a timely and coordinated response”.

It will also bring additional techs and equipment from interstate over the coming days to assist.

“Until mains power is progressively restored, Telstra is also actively working to install temporary generators at key locations across WA to try and restore services,” Mr Brown said.

“Telstra understands the importance of communications in emergency situations and we are doing what we can to restore services as quickly as we can.”

Energy Minister Reece Whitby told reporters on Thursday Western Power was “doing absolutely everything they can” to restore power.

“It is frustrating. I know how difficult it must be, particularly if you’ve lost power on Tuesday afternoon. So it’s going it’s getting to be some time down the track for those people,” he said.

The minister said Western Power crews were “working around the clock” and that it was looking into calling in private contractors to help with the huge workload.

“This was a very severe and extreme weather event. It created 300 hazard points across the South West and out to the Goldfields and in our Perth Hills. It was pretty extraordinary,” he said.

Mr Whitby also said Telstra was “positioning generators into their mobile phone towers” to restore some service capacity.

But for Wheatbelt residents like Ms Tuppen without access to triple-0, it’s a concerning prospect the longer the crucial contact point remains down.

“From a health point of view, especially for the elderly, it can be pretty bad if you can’t get through to triple-0,” she said.

“It’s been awful, it’s amazing how much you rely on our phones. From now on I will definitely have a generator spare, and some spare fuel.”

She said the community had been “amazing” at rallying to support each other.

“The farmers who have fuel stores have been running around offering fuel to everyone,” she said.

Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said it was “extremely concerning” there were still a number of isolated communities without access to the triple-0 service, but police, Western Power and DFES were working to restore the call lines.

Western Power on Thursday said it could not deploy its own network generators until crews have “responded to all hazards and made (it) safe”.

“The damage we are seeing is widespread and generators will only help very small pockets. We’re assessing where and when they can be used to ensure maximum community benefit,” the utility said.

It said “full customer restoration will take a number of days” and that key sites with critical infrastructure were being prioritised.