Broken Hill blackout pushes town to brink as miners stood down, schools closed

Schools have been closed, mine workers stood down and the local hospital shifted to emergency mode as Broken Hill continues to wait for the lights to come back on.

Power cuts in Broken Hill have seen schools closed, massive queues for fuel, mine workers being stood down, the local hospital enacting “emergency plans” and hundreds of residents heading to a local club to shelter from the heat.

Long lines of cars waited to fill up as the temperature soared into the mid-30s

Broken Hill’s electricity system failed last Wednesday in the same storm that knocked out electricity supply in South Australia’s Far North, including BHP’s Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs.

Since then, more than 10,000 properties in Broken Hill and surrounding areas have been relying on diesel generators.

However, the town’s main backup generator failed on Monday evening, with the intermittent power not expected to return until late Tuesday night.

Even with generators, locals say blackouts are continuous.

“If you don’t have a generator, you have no hope,” said Broken Hill resident Kimberly Smith.

“It’s a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. They say generators are coming … we have been told that for days,” said Ms Smith.

A long queue for the OTR in south Broken Hill on Tuesday. Picture: Facebook/Sue Johnstone

A long queue for the OTR in south Broken Hill on Tuesday. Picture: Facebook/Sue Johnstone

“I’ve got an elderly father; I have a little eight-month-old granddaughter. I can’t get in contact with them because the phone connection is so bad,” she said.

“It almost feels like you’re living in a third world country because we have got all these resources and none of it benefits us,” she said.

Mayor Tom Kennedy said it has been “disastrous” for the Broken Hill community.

“It will have millions of dollars worth of effects on the community for a long time,” he said.

“It may even effect the long term of confidence of some people.

“ It’s given us a taste of what it’s like to be put in a situation that is beyond your control. You do panic,” he said.

“Your food in the fridge is no good. It has to be chucked out. You have no power at night. You can’t just turn on the lights to walk around your house. It’s a real wakeup call for many people in Broken Hill on just how important things are and the infrastructure of electricity is,” he said.

Mr Kennedy said he met with Transgrid, who planned to have generators working by Tuesday nightfall.

“They said [power] would be back to normal generation if the large scale [backup] generator does hold on there. They are optimistic it will. I am not so optimistic,” he said.

Energy Provider Transgrid said they are working to have the main backup generator online by Tuesday afternoon and have ordered generators from across the state to provide backup supply.

Local mum Sophie Massey described the situation as “surreal”.

“Everything in our house runs off electricity. We have no gas cooking, no hot water, no cooking. I did a full grocery shop yesterday afternoon, only for a few hours later the power to go out,” said Ms Massey.

“With two young kids to care for and a fridge full of groceries [that are going bad], I’m feeling pretty pissed off and defeated,” she said.

Ms Massey said cars are lining in queues up to “three blocks long” to try and get fuel from the town’s petrol station.

Another resident, Naomi King, said it was “ridiculous”.

“I can’t work, no school, living in the dark, no airconditioning, throwing out food only bought on Sunday. To stay in touch we are charging devices via the car,” she said.

Transmission operator Transgrid said it was hopeful power would be restored by Tuesday night.

One worker at the Perilya zinc, lead and and silver mine said underground operations had been suspended and he had been stood down and required to take annual leave.

“I can see where the company is coming from,’’ the worker, who did not want to be named, said.

“It’s not too bad but not having a date to go back is the thing you worry about.’’

Schools closed in Broken Hill included the Alma Public School, Broken Hill Public School, Burke Ward Public School, Morgan Street Public School, Railway Town Public School and the School of the Air.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Health said it had “enacted emergency plans at all its facilities to ensure continuity of care and services during the power outage in the Far West’’.

“Broken Hill Hospital remained operational last night despite some disruptions to internal systems,’’ the spokesperson said.

More than 300 Broken Hill residents were sheltering from heat in a local club.

General manager of the Broken Hill Musician’s Club and Silver City Cinema Michael Boland said people had come to the venue for shelter and air conditioning as the temperature rose.

The club is being powered by its own diesel generator.

The club is offering free soft drinks and $10 meals and has also ordered pre-cooked roasts from Mildura which Mr Boland said would be distributed for free.

Broken Hill community enjoying the comfort of the Broken Hill Musician’s Club during a mass black out. Picture: Supplied

“We can fit in the most people and keep them cool,’’ Mr Boland said.

Community groups also hosted barbecues in a local park to feed people who could not cook at home.

Mr Boland said the people of Broken Hill felt the government had not listened to them and failed to fix a second generator which had broken down lasr year.

He said the outage would cost small businesses money as produce was spoiled in the heat and residents would be forced to restock fridges when the power did come back on.

The power cut has also disrupted Broken Hill’s mobile phone network, while Mr Boland said the queue for the city’s OTR outlets stretched for “four kilometres in all directions’’.

Video posted to Facebook showed long lines of cars waiting to refuel.

In South Australia, a spokesperson for SA Power Networks said power was expected to be fully restored to Hawker and Leigh Creek Tuesday afrernoon.

Originally published as Broken Hill blackout pushes town to brink as miners stood down, schools closed