Customers are still without power two days after a damaging freak storm tore apart north Sydney, leaving people with spoiled food and no relief from the blazing summer heat.
Over 35,000 homes were left with a power outage after a ‘mini-tornado’ tore roofs from buildings and trees out of the ground in Sydney’s Northern beaches on Sunday afternoon. One woman died, and two others were critically injured in the damaging storm.
Now, two days later, thousands of locals spanning north Sydney are still without power, with News.com.au reporting that some customers were under the impression they could be without power until Christmas.
@Channel7 @Channel9 @Channel10AU most of Northern Beaches STILL without power post Sunday storm. Ausgrid not updating, no signs of power before Christmas in some areas. Family stuck in heat, not hot water, fridges of xmas prep destroyed.
— Annabelle Bronstein (@BelleBronstein) December 20, 2021
Sydney resident Annabelle Bronstein tweeted that “most of Northern Beaches” is still without power, saying that there are “no signs of power before Christmas in some areas” and that people were “stuck in heat” with no hot water and their Christmas food prep destroyed.
The already stressful situation of having no power hasn’t been helped by the weather these last couple of days in Sydney, which have been consistently reaching 30C and leaving residents to swelter in the heat.
The combination of a power outage and hot weather has resulted in locals saying they’ve been forced throw out spoiled food from their non-functional fridges and freezers, with people taking to Twitter to vent their frustration.
Hi Chris, I can understand your frustration with the changing times. It’s really hard to be precise with the restoration time, which can depend on different factors including the extent of any damage – our crews will get power back on as soon as it’s safe. Thanks, Angela
— Ausgrid (@Ausgrid) December 20, 2021
Some have been tweeting Ausgrid directly, with a Twitter user going by Chris Maxwell complaining about the constant changes in Ausgrid’s time updates.
A spokesperson known as Angela has apologised for the delays and cited extensive damage as the reason it’s taking so long to bring the power back on.
Despite the delays, Ausgrid has still restored power to 28,300 homes as of 1.49pm on Tuesday afternoon.
The company said in a statement it expected the majority of customers to have their power restored within the next few days, but those in Dee Why, Collaroy, Naraweena and Wheeler Heights might not have power back on until later this week.
“It’s a very difficult time of year to be without power, and we apologise for the delays. We are doing everything we can to turn the lights back on as soon as possible,” a spokesperson for Ausgrid said in a statement, per News.com.au.
“Where we can, we are progressively turning power back on, and as always the safety of our customers and staff remains our number one priority.
“Given the extensive damage from the storm, some parts of the network are being rebuilt.”
