Food spoiled, connections cut

ESSENTIAL Energy crews worked around the clock to restore power to households in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

More than 42,000 homes and businesses were without power in various communities between Tweed Heads and Grafton on Saturday as strong winds and heavy rain caused trees to fall on powerlines and power poles to come down.

The state-owned energy infrastructure company had reduced that number to around 5,000 – mostly in the Northern Rivers region – by Tuesday night.

There was significant damage to powerlines at Mount Nardi near Nimbin, which is home to several transmission towers for FM radio, digital television, fixed wireless broadband and some mobile phone services.

Earlier this week Essential Energy established hubs to provide access to the internet and charging for mobile devices.

Information about the locations and opening times was available at evacuation centres and listed on electronic signboards that were placed in impacted communities.

The company also paused estimated meter readings for uninhabitable houses and buildings, as well as disconnections for non-payment of bills in flood-affected areas.

Telstra was also busy this week, restoring power to 312 mobile sites across south-east Queensland and northern NSW.

Telstra regional general manager Michael Marom said his teams worked closely with authorities to ensure they could get in and restore affected services as soon as it was safe to do so.

“We’ve also activated our assistance package for affected customers, which includes extra mobile data and free call diversions,” he said.

Work is still underway on a new mobile base station at Newrybar, which will deliver improved mobile coverage to the region.

The tower was originally slated to be up and running last July.

“The pole is up and we expect to have power connected to the site soon, which will enable us to complete the build,” Mr Marom said. “We hope to deliver better mobile services for our customers in the area within the next couple of months.”