Archive for the ‘Other State News’ Category

SYDNEY (Reuters) – A severe power blackout brought chaos to downtown Sydney on Monday afternoon, causing peak-hour traffic jams as street signals failed and leaving workers stranded in lifts as they tried to make their way home.

Failures at four high-voltage power cables virtually paralyzed Australia’s biggest city, with the Sydney Harbor tunnel partially closed to traffic and the Sydney Opera House forced to cancel all performances for the evening, local media said.

Office towers lost all power, paralyzing some elevators, at around 4:45 pm local time (0545 GMT). Up to 70,000 homes and businesses, including some inner suburbs, were blacked out, said state broadcaster ABC, which was running on back-up power.

The main stock exchange had closed by the time of the blackout.

EnergyAustralia, which distributes power to Sydney city, said it could take several hours to restore power.

“There are four power cables that supply very large (electricity) sub-stations,” an EnergyAustralia spokesman told local radio. “They have detected

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The Cyclone tracking map shows that Cyclone Hamish of the cosat of Queensland is now a category 4 with an expected Category 5.

People between Townsville and Yeppoon should immediately commence or continue preparations, especially securing boats and property.

People between Yeppoon and Hervey Bay should consider what action they will need to take if the cyclone threat increases. If you are unsure about the actions to be taken, information is available from your local government or local State Emergency Service

TOURISTS on Queensland’s popular Whitsunday islands on the Great Barrier Reef were preparing for the worst tonight as tropical cyclone Hamish crept south.

Two of the north Queensland islands, South Molle and Long, were evacuated today, but most visitors were choosing to stay on other islands with cyclone-proof resorts, such as Hamilton.

At 8pm (AEST) cyclone Hamish – which at category four is the same intensity as Larry which devastated the region in March 2006 – was 205km north of Hayman Island and 225km northeast of Ayr, moving southeast at 17km/h.

The weather bureau said the Whitsundays were expected to be hit with “very destructive” winds of around 160km/h early on Sunday morning, with the coastal communities of Ayr and St Lawrence due to face slightly lesser but still destructive winds.

Whitsundays Disaster Management Group coordinator Senior Sergeant Steve O’Connell said preparations were well under way on the coast.

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