Thousands of homes could remain without power for a week after Energex crews were forced to abandon crucial repairs due to dangerous weather conditions.
More than 46,000 households across southeast Queensland have been affected by the outages, with the majority on the Gold Coast, as of 4.30pm on Friday.
Redland City and the Scenic Rim have also been heavily impacted.
‘If we get hit hard, some areas may be without power for well more than a week, so people must be prepared at home to be without power for at least a week,’ Energex spokesman Danny Donald said.
‘The strong winds have carried debris, tree branches, whole trees, everything onto the network,’ he told the Courier Mail.
‘We’ve had some debris that has taken out the substation at Tugun.’
Work is increasingly difficult for Energex employees as Cyclone Alfred looms closer.
‘We’ve been dealing with fallen trees and downed powerlines where windy conditions made work increasingly difficult,’ a spokesperson said.
Due to terrifying gales from Cyclone Alfred, Energex staff are dealing with fallen trees and downed powerlines (pictured, police and firefighters attend a damage home in Queensland)
Work is increasingly difficult for Energex employees as Cyclone Alfred (pictured) looms closer
Waves are seen crashing into Currumbin Beach Vikings Surf Club (pictured)
‘We’ve been doing all we can to get the lights back on where possible, but as conditions worsen, we’ll need to pull all our troops back to keep them safe as Alfred approaches.’
Energex is working with local authorities and emergency services with 1,000 employees on standby to respond to any damage from Cyclone Alfred.
‘This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint,’ the company said.
Meanwhile, NSW provider Essential Energy says that conditions in the Northern Rivers and Far North Coast ‘continue to be extremely dangerous’, hindering restoration efforts for the over 43,000 homes and businesses without power.
The crews were stood down at 3am this morning for safety reasons. No work will recommence until the extreme weather caused by cyclone Alfred has passed.
