Power Outage Hits Perth’s Northern Suburbs Due to Humid Weather

Approximately 13,000 households in the northern suburbs of Perth are currently facing a power outage as a result of humid weather conditions damaging around 70 power poles. The affected areas include Padbury, Kingsley, Craigie, Carramar, and Greenwood, extending to suburbs between Eglinton and Seabird in the outer northern part of Perth.

The power disruption follows a night with temperatures not dropping due to cloud cover, recording a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius and high humidity reaching 100% in some parts of Perth on Monday morning.

Western Power indicated that the drizzly rain and humidity led to approximately 70 pole top fires, impacting around 47,000 customers at the peak of the outage. Zane Christmas, the asset operations executive manager, mentioned that crews are diligently working to address numerous hazards, repair poles, and restore power to the affected households.

Crews are prioritizing addressing hazards to ensure safety before assessing and replacing damaged poles to expedite the restoration process. The ongoing repair work may require up to eight hours per pole based on the type of infrastructure. Critical infrastructure areas such as hospitals and emergency services are receiving priority in the restoration efforts.

Western Power informed residents that pole top fires could occur during light drizzling rain or misty conditions when dust and pollution accumulate to create paths on insulators that lead to smouldering and burning.

Over in the political sector, Premier Roger Cook acknowledged the challenges posed by the rain-dust combination and highlighted that addressing these issues across the vast power network poses a substantial challenge.

Small businesses, like Urban Kitchen in Balcatta, are feeling the impact of the power outage, disrupting operations and potentially incurring significant financial losses. Owners, like Paul Watters, expressed concern over recurring outages and urged for infrastructure improvements to prevent future disruptions.