Emergency food trucks to bring aid to Broken Hill

The NSW government will finally send food trucks to deliver aid to the state’s far-western regions after transmission towers were knocked down during wild weather last week.

Workers are trying to restore power to Broken Hill after a violent storm has left the town without electricity for days. Picture: Supplied/Transgrid

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NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe says food trucks will finally deliver aid to the state’s far-western regions after transmission towers were knocked down during wild weather last week that has been described by the Bureau of Meteorology as a possible tornado.

Severe thunderstorms crippled the far-west NSW region of Broken Hill and surrounding areas on October 17, with downed power lines and faulty back-up generators leaving about 20,000 locals with minimal electricity for the better part of a week.

Trucks delivering food hampers have begun reaching the region, with schools set to operate as on Monday.

“They’ve dropped some in Menindee, and they’re on their way to Wilcannia, and there will also be some in Broken Hill. If you had to throw out the contents of your fridge and you need some food, you can do that,” Ms Sharpe said.

“We’re now seeing really great progress. What I saw this morning was very impressive. Workers are really putting everything into this. They’ve got good plans. There’s more people coming on every day.”

Two emergency response high-voltage transmission towers have been built in Broken Hill as authorities race to avoid further debilitating power outages.

By Sunday afternoon, two of the seven 60m-tall towers were in place and a third was nearing completion.

Residents had also been enduring repeated brownouts, particularly throughout the evening peak when electricity supplied by multiple generators was unable to meet demand.

Essential Energy, a government-owned power infrastructure body, said load-shedding was not needed on Saturday night, but the limits of their system were being tested.

“From 4pm onwards that evening peak does start to climb, and is starting to get up there towards the limits of the generation, particularly in that Broken Hill area,” Essential Energy’s Mark Summers said.

A 3.5km section of transmission lines in the Broken Hill region were damaged in severe storms, leaving towns without power.

The town is not set to be re-connected to the national grid until November 6, as workers scramble to fix a 3.5km section of transmission line damaged in the storm.

A backup gas-fired generator had been offline for nearly a year, while a second one tripped on Monday under high power demand due to hot weather.