Some homes and businesses will be without electricity for the next few days or longer, after wild storm
A couple now relying on a loaned generator for power have recounted their terrifying storm near-miss, as blackouts look set to drag on for days in some areas.
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At least nine schools will remain closed on Wednesday, four days after the freak storm that caused widespread outages around the state.
Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell said only primary schools and preschools were now affected.
“It won’t affect high schools or SACE exams” he said.
The figure is down from the 29 schools that were closed on Tuesday, when more than 50 year 12 students from two schools were unable to sit their SACE psychology exam.
Some of the worst-hit areas, including swathes of the Adelaide Hills, were still without power and may not have it restored for days.
Late on Tuesday, there were still more than 10,000 properties without power across the state. By 7.45am on Wednesday, just over 4700 customers were affected. SA Power Networks said most should have power again by Thursday.
“Only handfuls of people will be left without power on Thursday if it all goes smoothly,” spokesman Paul Roberts said.
ElectraNet chief executive Simon Emms said the damage done to the interconnector with Victoria on Saturday, including a transmission tower that was felled in the storm, would take months to fix.
But he said temporary towers meant the interconnector would be functional by the end of the weekend.
“Building a permanent tower will probably take many months,” Mr Emms said.
Upper Sturt was among the worst-hit areas in the storm, which ripped trees out of the ground and left them strewn across homes, cars, streets and backyards.
Access to parts of the Upper Sturt area will be shut from 8am on Wednesday as crews fix downed power lines.
One Upper Sturt couple, Ben Koch and Gemma Opie, have been forced to take time off work to begin their long clean-up job – all without proper electricity supply as they are now reliant on a loaned generator.
The trees in their Hilltop Drive backyard potentially saved the couple’s home from a worse fate, Mr Koch said.
“If we’d levelled the trees, I think the roof would have been ripped off instead,” he said.
Meantime, farmers were concerned about damage to their crops and harvest yields.
“Some of the grain crops have been impacted by wind and flattened,” CEO of Grain Producers SA Brad Perry said.
Farmers may only know the economic losses from the storm after they have determined the impact on crop quality in the coming weeks, he said.
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