Blackouts and pylons downed after 130km/h winds hit SA
More than 4000 properties remain without power after wild weather hit the state, with transmission towers felled by 130km/h winds and 250,000 lightning strikes recorded.
The entire township of Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam was blacked out on Thursday night after severe storms which hit the state took down several electricity towers in the area.
Roxby Downs Council CEO Roy Blight said winds of “over 130 kilometres per hour” had caused the damage.
“Yesterday was a very hot day. It was over 40 degrees, and became very windy late in the afternoon, and there was a pretty severe storm that came through about 4:30 and that’s when the power went out,” he said on ABC Radio Adelaide.
Olympic Dam airport on Thursday night. Photo: Meegan Barlow / Facebook
“That was followed by a pretty severe sandstorm, and the sky went red for about a quarter an hour, and that was followed by a short, sharp rain shower, which sort of settled the dust and the sand.
“It’s like being sandblasted if you’re out in it. It’s not like dust, it is actually gritty, and it hurts.”
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Almost 250,000 lightning strikes were recorded. Photo: SA Power Networks / Instagram
SA Power Networks said there were around 28,000 outages at 6pm on Thursday, with around 250,000 lightning strikes recorded during the storm with a peak of 400 strikes a minute.
SA Power Networks reported 59 current outages around 12:15pm Friday, affecting 4,500 properties. This does not include those at Roxby Downs, which Blight said saw power return last night with an Olympic Dam generator.
A spokesperson from BHP said the storms “caused structural damage to transmission lines, including the two lines that supply Olympic Dam and Roxby Downs”.
“ElectraNet crews are working to restore power as soon as possible, and we are working with them to better understand the scale of the impact and recovery timelines.
“In the interim, back-up generation and business continuity plans are in place,” the spokesperson said.
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An SA Power Networks outage map on Friday morning.
The State Emergency Service (SES) has had 42 incidents reported since midnight, with 21 ongoing as of 11:15 am. Incidents included reports of fallen trees around the state and flooding at Burra, Mount Gambier, and Naracoorte.
A spokesperson from ElectraNet said the “significant weather event has damaged the high-voltage network in the State’s Far North”.
“Power supply has been impacted and ElectraNet crews are working to restore power as soon as possible. Further updates will be provided as investigations continue,” the spokesperson said.
A total of seven towers connected to Olympic Dam transmission lines were reported to be down.
“The southern transmission lines are still out of service as I understand it, but we are on backup power in the town,” Roxby Downs Council CEO Blight said.
There were also blackouts at Andamooka, with Blight saying the roof of one home “got blown off and impacted on the transmission line”.
“There was a lot of debris around, there was serious wind,” he said.
“I saw images of a semi-trailer around Pimba that was blown on the side, and also a vehicle down at Oak Dam that was going through the weather, and hailstones and flying debris smashed the side window of the vehicle,” he said.
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