Winds keep valley in dark

– Melissa Meehan
PARTS of Don Valley were left without power for three days last week after wild winds swept the region.
Resident Sue Hoffman said the area lost power on Saturday evening after winds blew a tree down over powerlines in Don Road.
She spoke to the Mail on Monday night.
“We still had no power when I went to work this morning,” she said.
“And when I checked their (power company SP AusNet) website it said there were ‘no outages in Don Valley’.”
Ms Hoffman said she contacted SP AusNet on Monday to tell it powerlines were still down on the corner of Fern Gully Road.
She said while her power was restored at 1pm on Monday, many of her neighbours were still in the dark, those on the opposite side of Don Road and Ewarts Road.
“It would appear when they restored the power on the Don Road flats, they deleted all the other Don Road reports from the system without checking that there were other parts still without power,” she said.
“Their performance has been pathetic – there are a lot of unhappy people up here.”
SP AusNet communications adviser Natasha Whalley said galeforce winds on Sunday 16 August caused a number of power outages across Victoria, including homes and businesses in Don Valley and surrounding areas.
“About 1am on Sunday, strong winds brought a tree down in Don Road, which resulted in a power outage for about 3300 customers,” she said.
“SP AusNet crews were able to restore power to 2900 customers within half an hour; however, there were about 160 customers who didn’t have power restored until 1.20pm on Monday.”
She thanked customers who were affected by the power outages for their patience.
“We realise its never convenient to be without power,” she said.