Crews kept busy in storms

11 Jan 2011

Crews have overnight repaired powerlines that took direct lightning strikes, were brought down by trees or struck by vegetation.

Between midnight and midday they were called to 10 separate outages affecting customers in Batchelor, Acacia, Dundee, Darwin River, Manton Dam, Livingstone, Noonamah, Bees Creek, 19 Mile, Humpty Doo, McMinns, Howard Springs, Virginia, Berrimah, Winnellie, Stuart Park, Parap and Fannie Bay.

Other customers experienced a number of momentary outages as a result of nearly 3000 lightning strikes.

General Manager Power Networks Bertram Birk said Power and Water prepared for this type of weather and damage every tropical wet season.

"Some of the work last night included removing a tree that had brought down high voltage lines in Batchelor and repairing a lightning-severed line at Wallaby-Holtz Road in the rural area," Mr Birk said.

"This is typical of the damage we see at this time of year so we have crews on standby 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"They attend faults in all kinds of weather - this morning they were working in heavy rain, while lightning and thunder continued."

Fresh crews are on standby in preparation for storm fronts forecast to move through Darwin region this afternoon.

"Power and Water trims trees near its powerlines, installs lightning arrestors on our power poles and orders additional supplies to prepare for the storm season," Mr Birk said.

"But when this weather arrives, it's our crews who are ready to go and make the repairs."

Power and Water provides customer outage updates on Twitter, available from our website, or phone 1800 245 092 for more information.

You can also call this number if you hear or see something, such as a branch on a powerline, that might be causing an outage.

If you see a powerline down, stay well clear and phone 1800 245 090 to report it immediately. This number is for emergency use only.

Networks crews work in driving rain to repair a powerline struck by lightning in the rural area this morning.

Crews make a powerline safe for repair as the sky remains dark in this morning's storms.