Homes across Mackay, Rockhampton, Whitsundays left without power after lightning strikes
More than 1400 homes will be without power for some time as Ergon rushes to restore energy across the region, with some people expected to wait till 6pm.
Mackay
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Thousands have been left without power as damaging winds, lightning strikes and hail swept across the North and Central Queensland coast over the weekend.
One Eton resident, Kiarra Kolhorst said she was surprised when she copped hail at around 4.45pm on Saturday.
“Quick scramble to move all the cars in the shed for it to end very soon with only relatively small hail,” she said.
Ergon Energy, the region’s main supplier of electricity, recorded 260,000 lightning strikes overnight placing 14,000 homes and businesses without power during the peak of the storm.
That includes 289 still without electricity in Carmila.
Continued outages have also been reported in Moranbah, Nebo, Frankfield, Clermont, and the Whitsundays while several houses remain in an outage near Mt Martin outside of Mackay.
The Rockhampton region suffered the majority of the blackouts: Blackwater, Rolleston, Clermont, Dysart, Bluff, Biloela, Bowen, Yeppoon and Gracemere.
Spokesman for Ergon Energy, Danny Donald confirmed that 1400 residents in Blackwater remain without power as investigations are underway.
“We have mobilised additional crew from other parts of the region. We’re still having rural area access issues. But we hope to get everyone up and running today,” he said.
The lights have been turned on for all but 21 homes of the 600 Dysart residents that lost power over the weekend while 180 Ergon Energy customers in the Rockhampton region remain in the dark.
Twelve Ergon Energy customers in Bowen have had their supply restored in the past hour while 2 homes are expected to have their power by 12pm today.
Investigations are underway for up to 185 homes in Conway who have been left without power since 9.30pm last night due to damage in the area according to Ergon Energy Outage Finder.
Four homes and businesses in Coppabella are expected to be left without power until 6pm tonight according to Ergon Energy’s Outage supplier.
Originally published as Homes across Mackay, Rockhampton, Whitsundays left without power after lightning strikes
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