More than 2100 homes across Orange and 750 in Blayney were affected by power outages as a result of Friday afternoon's storms, with some houses left without power for more than six hours after wild weather hit the region.
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Clumps of backouts hit the region from Mullion Creek down to Mandurama, with parts of Wellington and Guerie also hit as 4000 homes in total across the Central West were plunged into darkness.
The State Emergency Service responded to 75 jobs on Friday afternoon, with trees down across the region causing havoc on roads and powerlines.
Winds of up to 75km/h battered Orange and the region from 4.30pm on Friday, with rain and snow falling across Saturday and Sunday in a wild weekend of weather.
Essential Energy operations manager Macquarie Jamie Warren said the storms caused trees and shed roofing to come into contact with the network across the region, kicking an automatic power switch-off at about 2.30pm.
"Crews responded immediately to reports of trees in powerlines near Racecourse Road and after ensuring it was safe to do so, rerouted the electricity network around the fault and restored power to 1,282 customers at 5.05pm, and a further 754 customers by 10.08pm," Mr Warren said.
"Unplanned power outages also affected customers in surrounding areas including Cargo Road and Mitchell Highway."
Due to the nature of the damage and ferocity of the winds, crews focused on ensuring the safety of the public and their property on Friday, and restored power to as many customers as possible by Friday evening. Some customers remained without power overnight on Friday until crews could safely complete repairs on Saturday.
"Due to the widespread nature of the storms, additional crews were brought in from other depots to assist our Orange and Blayney crews to carry out repairs and restore power to customers as quickly as safety allowed," Mr Warren said.
An Essential Energy spokesperson reminded the public to report fallen or damaged powerlines immediately by calling 13 20 80 and to stay at least eight metres away from the line and anything in contact with it.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank customers for their understanding as we worked to restore power after the storms," Mr Warren said.
"Our crews worked to reduce that number to around 600 by 11pm Friday, and restored power to all customers by Saturday evening."
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
