Cyclone Seroja latest: Geraldton, Kalbarri, Northampton power blackout ‘could last days’

Restoring full power and normal food and fuel supplies to Geraldton, Northampton and Kalbarri could take as long as a week, a DFES spokesman said.

“Western Power are busy restoring their infrastructure, we have got Water Corp restoring their infrastructure — the biggest problem with Water Corp was loss of power,” Rick Ryan said.

He said DFES was working to set up emergency relief supplies of food and fuel to the Geraldton and Kalbarri communities.

At least one supermarket — Wonthella IGA — will be opening from 8.30am, but will be cash only.

Mr Ryan said a second evacuation centre for people needing it had been established in Geraldton’s QEII Centre.

“That is what we call a one stop shop where the Department of Communities are there to assist anybody who’s been displaced due to damage to the houses,” he said.

“We’ve also got an evacuation centre in Dongara.

A one stop shop does it has all other agencies there that can provide support to individuals.

A pharmacy on Marine Terrace opened, after hiring a portable generator.

Mr Ryan said there were more than 100 emergency services staff and 200 volunteers helping other agencies repair damage and restore services to normal.

Many came from units in other parts of WA and more were flying here from other states, as well as more than 40 Defence Force members being deployed to assist.

“They will be helping to make properties safe, and secure all dangerous debris, clearing roads, and opening up infrastructure we are assisting all agencies,” he said.

Mr Ryan said the communications outages was likely caused by battery failure.

“The towers only have a certain battery life and when that goes you can imagine, this current situation everybody’s using or were using the towers and the batteries have gone flat,” he said.

Telstra are busy installing generators and they are also busy putting in place mobile systems.

”Once that’s up and running that will improve the telecommunications.

Mr Ryan said a second evacuation centre had been established at the QEII Centre in Durlacher Street.

City of Greater Geraldton residents whose properties suffered damage overnight from Tropical Cyclone Seroja said they felt lucky to have escaped with mostly only minimal damage to homes and fences.

Many said they felt fortunate to have apparently escaped the brunt of Seroja’s power after the cyclone caused catastrophic damage further north, with emergency responders estimating more than two thirds of buildings in Kalbarri were damaged.

Drummonds Cove resident Sue Graham said her house had sustained damage after a large dead tree had hit the back of it.

A gutter had detached from the house and a hole in the ground was visible where the trunk of the tree had apparently penetrated through paving bricks next to the house as it impacted, however the damage could have been much worse.

She praised State Emergency Service volunteers and said they had been on the scene quickly once the red alert was lifted.

Joan Fairclough said a skylight in her roof had shattered during the storm and showered glass inside her house.

She said she and husband Jim had left the living room shortly earlier to shelter in another room as Jim had become worried the skylight would break.

SES volunteers were doing emergency repairs to the roof on Monday.

One business owner reported thieves had looted his shop overnight.

Medical specialist clinics at St John of God Hospital were all closed, although cyclone damage was limited to the roof of a shed behind the Orthopaedic centre in Hermitage Street.

The emergency department at Geraldton Hospital was open and very busy, with one patient reporting she waited three hours this morning to see a doctor before giving up and going home with some minor medication.

Damage estimates weren’t immediately available as phone and communication networks were widely down throughout the city.

Traffic lights in the town centre were out Monday, while some lights on North West Coastal Highway were working.

Western Power and emergency responder vehicles were sighted in various parts of the city.

Western Power said on its website Monday it couldn’t give estimates for when power would return as its workers couldn’t go out until after the red alert was lifted and it needed to make safety assessments before working on restoring power supply.

He said around 30,000 residents in the Mid West had no power.

Cyclone Seroja hit Geraldton around 8.30pm Sunday, with most homes without power from about that time.

Wind speeds reached 91km/h with gusts of up to 120km/h.

In the 24 hours to 9am Sunday the Bureau of Meteorology rain gauge at Geraldton Airport recorded 33.6 mm.

In Chapman Valley and greater Geraldton the outage extended as far White Peak, Nanson, Mullewa and Pindar affecting than 18,000 homes and businesses.

Power outages kept most businesses closed on Monday morning with most traffic lights out.

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