Tropical Cyclone Alfred Update - 7 March

Current outages

• Energex is certainly seeing the first of TC Alfred’s damaging winds with more than 26,800 customers without supply with the worst affected areas being the Gold Coast, Redland City and Scenic Rim.
• The majority of this is being caused by debris over powerlines and substations.
• You can follow outages in near live time on Energex Emergency Outages.

Energex’s response

• For the safety of our crews we will be gradually suspending business as usual restoration work across SEQ as the weather deteriorates and becomes unsafe for our teams to respond. We have already suspended Gold Coast and Southern Moreton Bay Island responses until after the cyclone passes.

Plan for extended outages

• We continue to urge the community to plan for power outages lasting a week or more. While we hope this doesn’t happen, we must be ready for serious damage to the power network and/or homes.

Today’s preparation tips:

• If you are reliant on powered medical equipment, have your Plan B ready to be without power supply for an extended period.
• Don’t use candles for lighting. They’re a serious fire hazard!
• Battery-powered and/or rechargeable lighting/torches should have plenty of spare batteries and/or should be fully charged now.
• Ensure all battery packs (for mobiles), PCs and communication equipment is charged.
• Fill any empty soft drink bottles with water, place them in the freezer and use them for ice in an esky to keep food cool and to drink later.

Wet appliance safety

• If any appliances become saturated or inundated do not use them. Either have them inspected by a licensed electrician or throw them out. Lift electrical equipment to high areas in the home if you’re in a flood zone.