Howard Salkow

Senior Journalist

UPDATE:

Ergon Energy has advised that by 3:00pm crews had restored power to all but 15 customers in the immediate vicinity of the damage, which was caused by a falling tree branch.

Network repairs will need to be completed before those customers can be safely reconnected.

EARLIER:

Productivity took a huge hit mid-morning in Mossman today when 1192 customers lost power at around 10:20am when circuit breakers tripped.

Ergon said in a statement that crews are patrolling the network to find the cause of the outage at Mossman.

Local businessman and owner of Mossman Print, Roy Weavers, said that work had come to a standstill.

“I was in the middle of a rather large job when the power went. It is extremely frustrating as we have a considerable workload and this impact us.

“We are also totally committed to the Internet,” said Weavers.    

Ergon has a network protection system, which operates much like the safety switch in your home, but on a larger scale.

Power is interrupted when it senses something is wrong, like when a vehicle, wildlife, tree branch or lightning strike contacts powerlines.

Crews need to find the fault before they can provide an accurate power restoration timeframe, they said in a statement.

In an update, Ergon advised that crews found a high-voltage powerline down on the ground near the Mossman River.

“Their first priority is to make the area safe before commencing emergency repairs.

“Crews will need to fix the network damage before power can be safely restored to all customers, but they are working to get the power back on to customers in the town centre within an hour.

“We thank customers for their patience and remind everyone to stay well clear of fallen powerlines, which are a life-threatening electrical hazard,” an Ergon spokesperson said.