David Gardiner

Journalist

Ergon Energy crews are still working to repair downed lines and restore power to hundreds of customers in Mossman, Cooya Beach and Bonnie Doon after several hours of an unplanned outage.

A spokesperson for Ergon said it’s not known exactly what caused the downed lines at this stage – but the outage started at about 9.53 this morning and initially affected 1947 customers in a wider area which also included Newell, Daintree, Miallo, North Mossman, Rocky Point, Whyanbeel and Wonga Beach.

More than 1400 have been restored, with 518 still waiting at as 1.30pm.

Newsport was also informed by a resident at Newell that their power was restored at around 12.30pm, only to go off again for a short time, before being put back on again.

Ergon’s Outage Finder map, showing streets in the areas affected and updated (when applicable) every 15 minutes, can be found here: https://www.ergon.com.au/network/outages/outage-finder/outage-finder-map

“The cause was fallen high-voltage powerlines, which will need to be repaired,” the spokesperson said.

“Crews have been able to get the power back on to more than 1400 customers, but some properties cannot be safely reconnected until emergency repairs are completed,” she added.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience while crews fix the damage.

“If you see fallen powerlines, always treat them as though they are live, stay at least 10 metres away and report them to emergency services on 000 or call Ergon on 13 22 96.

“During fault-finding and restoration, some customers will notice that the power comes back on briefly before it’s interrupted again. Rest assured, crews will restore your power as soon as they have confirmed it is safe to do so.”