Energex update for thousands without power on the Gold Coast after Christmas evening storm
More than 20,000 Gold Coast homes remain without power after a tornado battered the region while Energex say the Tamborine network will have to be “completely rebuilt”. READ THE UPDATE
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More than 20,000 Gold Coast homes remain without power after a tornado battered the region while Energex say the Tamborine network will have to be “completely rebuilt”.
An Energex spokesperson majority of Gold Coast residents would have their power restored by New Year’s Eve at the latest.
However, the power grid in Mount Tamborine and Jimboomba was “so significantly” damaged and the systems would need to be entirely rebuilt.
“For some customers in the hardest hit areas such as Mount Tamborine and Jimboomba, network restoration will take some time,” the spokesperson said.
“We’ll be exploring every option to get power on, including a combination of network supply and generation, as soon as we can safely get access.”
The spokesperson said their restoration plan aims to have power back on for 90 per cent of power by New Year’s Eve.
They said they had hard a rumour power would not be turned back on until January 31, but that was untrue.
“We’ve got no idea where this rumour started, given that our own teams are still assessing damage.”
The spokesperson said they understood residents in more rural areas were relying on power for water and septic to work.
“Within urban areas on a grid, there are more options to isolate faults and to switch around them,” they said.
“In semirural areas, there tend to be single long feeders supplying dispersed customers.
“There’s not the same options to isolate/switch around problems.
“We’re very conscious that non-townspeople are often reliant on pumps for water and septic (many of our own staff are in the same boat).
“However, we can’t begin to describe the amount of vegetation that’s been launched into these rural powerlines.”
On Tuesday, Tamborine residents were calling for additional help from the Army as SES was inundated with calls.
Two days later Senator Murray Watt confirmed the Australian Defence Force would not be intervening at this stage.
“My understanding is that from the state and local governments point of view, they have the resources necessary to be able to deal with the situation without the ADF being involved.
“As the commissioner said, we’re very grateful to see deployments of New South Wales SES personnel to the Gold Coast, and I understand there’ll be arriving today (Thursday), about 40 people from New South Wales.
“If that situation changes and the ADF is needed, then of course, we’d be happy to look at that.”
FATE OF NEW YEARS EVE FIREWORKS TO BE DECIDED
The fate of two Gold Coast New Years Eve celebrations will be decided on Friday when Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate provides a post-storm clean up update.
It comes after Mr Tate said on Wednesday planned celebrations in storm-battered parts of the city would be reviewed for fire hazards amid ongoing storm clean up amid a heatwave.
Mr Tate confirmed on Thursday all but two planned events, at Coomera and Paradise Point, had been given the go-ahead.
SOUTHPORT POWER OUTAGE
Nearly 1500 houses in central Southport have lost power after a “fault” was detected in the network.
Power was lost in the city’s CBD after 3.30pm Thursday, with Energex reporting 1468 properties were without power.
an Energex spokesman said crews are patrolling the area “fault”.
“We do have a couple of crews doing patrolling for a fault, (and) 1459 customers in the Southport area are affected”,” he said.
“If anyone has seen any issues they can call 13 19 62.”
It comes as thousands of residents on Mount Tamborine and Jimboomba will enter the new year without power, a week after the devastating Christmas Day storms.
State Energy Minister Michael de Brenni said damage to the area’s power grid was “so significant” that the systems would need to be entirely rebuilt.
“The advice is that those areas aren’t able to have power restored,” Mr de Brenni said on Thursday.
“The damage is so significant that we will have to rebuild the power network in those communities. In the meantime, those communities will need alternative generation solutions.”
Mr de Brenni said state government and council were in the process of investigating interim power solutions with the top priority to reconnect hospitals and aged car centres first.
As of Thursday morning, 63 per cent of affected Gold Coast properties have had power restored.
By December 30, Energex expects 80 per cent of properties to have power restored climbing to 90 per cent by the end of New Year’s Eve.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said damage assessments were still underway with the total cost still yet to be identified.
“The threshold is $2.1m before we can start claiming recompense from state government,” Mr Tate said.
“My gut feeling is that we’ll be above that.”
More than 500 Energex field officers are operating on the ground across all affected parts of South East Queensland.
On Wednesday, 146 SES and 108 Rural Fire Service members were working on the ground with similar numbers expected to work throughout Thursday.
Police Commissioner Katrina Carroll confirmed 10 additional SES crews from NSW are expected to arrive and 10 crews expected to return from far north Queensland.
“Some 370 jobs were completed by SES at the height of the course. Approximately 2000 jobs come in. So there are a lot more jobs for the SES crews to get through over the next few days,” she said.
Personal disaster grants have been extended to 14 more suburbs across Southeast Queensland including Mount Tamborine, Jimboomba and Tallai in the Gold Coast’s Hinterland.
More than 30,000 applications have been lodged since the funding was activated on Wednesday, with almost 8000 calls made to the community recovery hotline.
On Thursday, Federal Emergency Minister Senator Murray Watt said further grants were available for disaster-stricken Queenslander to aid with electricity, water and gas reconnection.
“For low-to-middle income Queenslanders there are grants available through the federal and state government to help uninsured residents reconnect damage services like electricity, water and gas,” he said.
“That can be up to $5000 per household. The best way for people to find out what they might be eligible for is to go on to the Queensland Government’s Disaster Assist website.”
‘SLEEPING ON BATHROOM TILES’: NO POWER IN HEATWAVE
Residents across the Gold Coast say they are considering sleeping on their bathroom tiles as they head into their fourth day without power in heatwave conditions.
Almost 50,000 Queensland homes are still without power after a Christmas Day storm – which some are calling a tornado – battered the region.
More than half of the 130,000 houses which lost power on Christmas Day have now been restored.
Over 30,000 Gold Coast homes remain without power on Thursday morning.
An Energex spokesman said they had more than 400 staff working to fix the extensive damage to power lines and grids across Queensland.
“We know it’s been an awful time for thousands of households, and our teams have left nothing in the tank as they’ve cleared debris, made sites safe, restrung some of the 1000-plus downed powerlines, replaced power poles, and in some cases trekked through wreckage and vegetation to get to damage sites on foot,” they said.
Residents across the region have thanked crews for working “tirelessly” to restore the power.
“The moment has come, we have power,” Coomera resident Shalyn Eggleton said.
Another resident said they were “totally exhausted” having to deal without power in 30 degree weather.
“No power in the middle of a heatwave is the worst,” Stephanie Ryan from Paradise Point said.
Other residents said they had to resort to using ice or a wet face cloth to help them sleep.
“I’m sitting on the floor in the bathroom with my feet in the shower and cold water running.,” Jodi Speck from Paradise Point said.
“So hot, no breeze at all.
“Think I’m going to sleep where I am it’s cool here on the tiles.
“So over this and it’s going to be worse today (Thursday).”
The Energex spokesman said workers made significant progress on Wednesday safeguarding dozens of damaged sites, repairing and building many of the key high voltage power lines that form the spine of their network.
“Field staff have put in the hard yards today in heatwave conditions,” they said.
“They’ve also made good headway with restoration.
“In the past 24 hours, power has been reinstated to 63,000 homes across SEQ.”
The spokesman said power lines in badly-hit areas were “impossible” to get to.
“There are literally mountains of huge felled trees between our crews and the lines,” they said.
The spokesman said the crews worked through Wednesday night and into Thursday.
“Our crews – some of whom have been personally affected by storm damage, and many of whom abandoned holidays to help our communities – will be working through the night again,” they said.
The spokesman said it was still difficult to put a time frame on when all power would be restored.
“We’re still unearthing more damage which has made pinning down timelines especially tricky,” they said.
“We’re confident that we’ll make good inroads again tomorrow to areas where the high-voltage spine has been repaired, as we have good access to the street-level low-voltage network.
“However, we face an uphill battle in some of the areas where access is still impossible due to rough terrain and fallen trees.
“This will take considerably longer, and we hope to know more tomorrow.”
DISASTER PAYMENT
Disaster-struck Gold Coasters can get $180 each or $900 for families in emergency money being freed up by the government for urgent food and essentials.
The release of Disaster Hardship Funding comes as Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate blasts the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for its Christmas storm warnings calling their performance “unforgivable”.
The emergency cash is for residents in dire straits after the freak Christmas night storm destroyed homes and businesses.
APPLY FOR STORM DISASTER CASH HERE
On Wednesday, Premier Steven Miles said the funding was activated for Gold Coasters affected by the storm on Monday.
“People on the Gold Coast affected by the disaster can apply for those hardship payments now,” Mr Miles said.
“The hardship payments are $180 per person, up to $900 for a family. They are designed just to get people through these first few days, make sure they have got food and other essentials.”
BOM ALERTS ‘UNFORGIVABLE’
Mr Tate on Wednesday said BOM weather warning timings on Christmas Day were “unforgivable”.
“We got a warning from the BOM that the storm will hit you at 8:45pm but the printed email was 9pm. I looked out to the sky and we already copped it.
“We can’t warn people unless they give us the data (early). It’s unforgivable. We got to sort it so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Mr Miles said the Bureau was “doing it’s best”.
“I will let the bureau speak for themselves, on what they knew and when,” he said.
“(The Bureau) do their very best to use the information that is available to them to provide those predictions. They walk a fine line, often if they predict more than what occurs they get criticised, and if they predict less than what occurs they get criticised.
“It is very hard for them to predict the kinds of events that we have not really seen before.”
It comes as an emergency effort to restore the city’s powergrid is now underway.
About 1000 powerlines across affected parts of South East Queensland were taken out – 800 of which on the Gold Coast.
As of midday on Wednesday, 63,528 customers on the Gold Coast are still without power according to Energex.
Springbrook MP Michael de Brenni said all available energy crews were working to restore the city’s powergrid with 80 more crews from Brisbane to be deployed.
GOLD COAST RESTORATION REPORT AMID GCUH PATIENT SPIKE
Mr de Brenni said a report on the city’s recovery plan breaking down when power would return street by street, suburb by suburb would come out Thursday.
Mr de Brenni said of the detailed Recovery Report: “The restoration plan will give you a street by street, road by road, suburb by suburb – clear expectation around when your power will be restored.”
Mr Tate said damage cost assessments were still being done on the cost to homes, business and council property.
“We will be advising the state and federal government on whatever grants we can get (to help) as part of the recovery,” he said.
“None of the damage has stopped council’s operation so we’re able to serve the people and continue.”
Housing and Local Government Minister Meaghan Scanlon added while storm weather was at a low risk for the Gold Coast, residents should keep a close eye out for warnings.
“Sadly, a number of people have lost their lives as a result of this severe storm,” the Gaven MP said. “Our hearts are going out to those families who have lost a loved one.
“It’s really important people are listening to all of the warnings that come out from the BOM.”
Gold Coast University Hospital on Tuesday had a 30 per cent spike at the emergency department. Gold Coasters are urged not to attend hospital unless it is an emergency.
“If you’re not serious take a Panadol and relax at home, Don’t go there,” Mr Tate added.
HEATWAVE TO HIT GOLD COAST: FREE ACCESS TO AQUATIC CENTRE, NYE CELEBRATION CANCELLATIONS ON TABLE
Mr Tate said the city is “not out of the woods” yet with a heatwave forecast to hit on Thursday despite thousands expected to be without power and many homes badly damaged.
Mr Tate said access to the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre would be made free in coming days.
Pimpama Community Centre at the Pimpama Sports Hub (Rifle Road, Pimpama) is open for residents wanting to escape the heat with refreshments available.
Mr Tate added all libraries except for Runaway Bay were available for residents without power to take refuge.
“It’s going to be hot and the task for us this weekend will be to get the energy back on so people can get the aircon going,” he said.
“I am also happy to report we were also able to get (desalination) water into our grid. That means no more water shortage in the south.”
WONGAWALLAN WOES: ‘MY HOUSE COMPLETELY GONE’
Meanwhile, a Gold Coast man has shared the moment he says he thought he was going to die while cowering in the corner as 160km/h winds destroyed his home.
Gold Coaster Sam Bray shared a video of what his home looked like after the devastating Christmas evening storm which battered the region.
Mr Bray said he was spending Christmas night with his grandparents in Surfers Paradise when the storm started to roll into the Gold Coast.
He said he made his way back to his Wongawallan home and within 10 minutes “it felt like a tornado had hit the house”.
“I heard what I can only describe as the most haunting sound of wind and gale,” Mr Bray said.
“(My house) is completely gone.
“I cowered in the corner and watched my roof peel off and my ceiling cave in around me.
“I thought I was going to die.
“I went for the front door and dived underneath my car because I thought that was the only place to be safe,” he said.
Mr Bray said he was unsure where his cat Dexter was.
“God forbid I end up getting all the rubble out and finding him but I think he’s okay,” he said.
“Whether he will ever come back I don’t know.”
Mr Bray said he only able to salvage some items like his laptop and guitar but was unsure if they were still working.
“I don’t know what the next six months or year is going to look like for me,” he said.
Mr Bray created a GoFundMe on Tuesday to help rebuild his home and studio.
He said a percentage of the proceeds would be going towards SES to help other families who were affected by the storm.
ENERGEX WEDNESDAY AM UPDATE
On Wednesday morning, an Energex spokesman said there was still 1100 powerlines damaged across the Gold Coast and 88,000 Queensland homes were without power on Wednesday morning – down from 130,000 without power on Tuesday.
“We’ve been able to restore power to several thousand Gold Coast and Logan customers,” they said.
“This morning, we have 430 field crew personnel working across the storm-hit areas, as well as aerial patrols.
“We’ll continue yesterday’s work to repair the high voltage network as well as tackling damage to the low voltage network.”
The spokesman said it was going to take time to repair the damaged powerlines and poles.
“We get that it’s frustrating to be without power, however it’s not just a matter of hooking up a powerline or hitting a switch,” they said.
“We’re talking thousands upon thousands of individual pieces of damage.
“This remains a dangerous situation, with nearly 1100 powerlines brought down and damage to a degree that veteran crews reckon they’ve only seen when responding to severe tropical cyclones.”
The spokesman said it was important to remember fallen powerlines could be hidden in debris and vegetation and to “never assume a fallen line is anything other than live and deadly”.
They said they couldn’t put a time frame on when the power will be restored but customers in badly-hit areas “need to be prepared for days without power”.
A 57-year-old Helensvale woman, Robyn Carman sadly died after being hit by a falling tree around 9.30pm on Monday.
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