28/02/2022
Massive props to the Energex crews over the next week!
⚠️⚠️⚠️ 8AM UPDATE ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Thanks to a big push yesterday afternoon and overnight, another 3000 households woke up to power this morning, and we’re pushing hard to safely restore supply to the remaining 43,000 customers.
All available SEQ crews are out in the field where they can get access, and reinforcements are on their way from as far away as Cairns. Together, they’re working on damage in every corner of SEQ.
⚡️ We’re hoping to make significant inroads today around Bundamba, Gympie, Lockyer Valley, around Brisbane where the damage is less severe, and north of Noosa where we had to de-energise for safety. There’ll also be a big focus today on getting a handle on damage and restoration timeframes for most areas so the community has a greater sense of what to expect – keep an eye on Outage Finder: https://bit.ly/3HhdMag
⚡️ There’s still a lot of water around: in particular, the Logan and Albert rivers are peaking again this morning. Fingers are crossed that the Albert drops significantly as expected but we still face a lot of access challenges in the area.
⚡️ The network capacity issue at Archerfield substation has been resolved, so we don’t expect to have to undertake any further rotational load shifting there – a big thank you to affected customers for your patience while we got on top of this yesterday evening.
*** QUESTIONS OF THE DAY ***
❓ How come one area has power but not another?
You may be supplied by a different section of network or substation to that which supplies the next street or even your neighbour. These networks can stretch for many miles, and resupply depends on whether the infrastructure supplying your place has been flood damaged, potentially a long way from your home.
❓ The water’s dropped – why isn’t the power back on already?
Easing flood levels are the first step in the enormous job of power restoration – it’s not a matter of just flicking a switch. Receding floodwaters certainly help with access, but crews need to be able to get to all the problem areas on a section of network, not just isolated chunks of it. Then the poles, lines, padmount transformers, pillar boxes – every one of thousands of potentially flood-affected components – has to be cleaned, dried, inspected and repaired as needed before we can safely restore your power. There are no shortcuts, no magic wands; just hard, meticulous slog, but we won’t ease up until everyone’s safely back on supply. Please bear with us.
📸 Floods throw up all kinds of unwelcome surprises. Here crews are shoring up the footings on a pole after torrents of water gouged out the ground around it, also exposing underground conduit.
