Wild weather brings Power and Water staff out in force

06 Mar 2007

Dozens of Power and Water staff worked around the clock to attend more than 100 outages from in Darwin, the rural area and remote locations.

Lightning strikes, flooding and wild weather brought down power lines, caused insulators to blow and were the catalyst for a range of outages across the Top End.

Restoration efforts were hampered by the severe flooding and made the communities of Port Keats, Oenpelli and Dundee inaccessible by road. Power and Water commissioned aircraft and flew technicians in to these areas to restore power safely as soon as possible.

Repairs on flood and lightning damage were also underway. Darwin and Palmerston sewerage systems were inundated with overflow and staff worked towards controlling surcharges and repairing damage.

In these trying conditions the restoration of water and power was done in a safe manner and no injuries were reported.

``While the restoration of power is important, the safety of residents and workers in these circumstances is paramount,” Power and Water Corporation Acting Managing Director Andrew Macrides said.

``I am proud that in these conditions restoration was managed with no injuries reported.’’