Australia Day 2021: Thousands of Sydneysiders lose power for hours in heat
The heatwave conditions in Sydney on this Australia Day have led to power outages across the city, with officials calling on people to regulate their usage.
NSW
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Thousands of Sydneysiders have lost power for hours in the hottest part of the day thanks to today’s heatwave.
About 1200 homes in the suburbs of Hunters Hill, Gladesville, Hunters Cove, Henley and Huntleys Pt lost power shortly after 3pm on Tuesday, according to Ausgrid.
The mercury tipped 38C in the Hunters Hill area earlier this afternoon according to the Bureau of Meteorology, but residents will have to wait until at least 5pm for their power back, according to Ausgrid’s website.
Power is currently out to customers in Gladesville, Henley, Hunters Hill and surrounding suburbs. Our crew are working to safely restore power. For more info: https://t.co/bZtdLPjc9L
— Ausgrid (@Ausgrid) January 26, 2021
Ausgrid said the cause of the outage was “still under investigation”.
“Power is currently out to customers in Gladesville, Henley, Hunters Hill and surrounding suburbs,”Ausgrid wrote on Twitter.
“Our crew are working to safely restore power.”
It follows a day of outages spread throughout Greater Sydney for the power provider, impacting thousands of homes across the suburbs.
About 1500 Manly homes blacked out about 8:30am before being switched back on just before 2pm, when the temperature had risen to 30C.
An earlier outage in Sydney’s north saw 1600 homes in Atarmon, Greenwich, St Leonards lose electricity at 7:30 this morning before it was restored two hours later.
1400 Sutherland Shire residents in Cronulla, Caringbah and Woolooware also lost power early this morning but were connected back to the grid by 8:30am.
Ausgrid spokeswoman Emma Shanks said the outages were “mostly heat related” cable failures but Sydney’s power grid had “done quite well” following a five day heatwave.
She asked Sydneysiders to be mindful of their power use during hot days to prevent the grid from overloading and causing more blackouts.
“These were cable failure events, which generally happen in the heat when the grid is overloaded with people using electricity to cool off,” Ms Shanks said.
“We’ve had a few incidents today and a quick response time but we can help prevent a whole lot from happening if people minimise their power use with a few quick steps, like setting their aircon to 23C instead of 18C, which uses a lot less power.”
Temperatures peaked in the city’s western suburbs, with Holsworthy, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney Airport each recording 41C by mid afternoon.
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