apparently we're not out of the woods just yet

The storm here in SA continues, with destructive gale force winds and rain increasing overnight, abnormally high tides; bridges over rivers have been closed to traffic. 
The mid north has been hit hard with floodings etc, residents of Port Pirie have been advised to evacuate, but I think that may be for people close to the water. My sister lives way out near the edge of town there, out in the dry as dust section, so maybe she won't have to go anywhere. J is a mentally challenged person, with no telephone (they scare her), so I can only hope the social workers there are looking after them the way they did a couple of years ago (or was it just last year) when the gas pipes were broken and no one had hot water or any way to cook foods if they didn't have electric stoves.

Word is there have been 80,000 lightning strikes, food supplies are running low as trucks cannot get through, many petrol stations have been closed...

Thank goodness the power is back for many of us.
For now. For me, the blackout wasn't so bad, I was fully prepared with lamps, batteries in the radio, fully charged kindle, a pack of cards.

What I wasn't prepared for was to be woken just as I was falling asleep by the sound of the fridge coming back on, but that was okay. An hour later, I was woken again by neighbour P who came across in the wind and rain to knock on my door and say "I think me fridge has gone" I was grumpy and tempted to ask "where do you think it has gone to?", but I didn't.
I remembered she is old, diabetic and keeps her insulin in the fridge, so of course she's concerned. I reassured her, saying that if she doesn't open the fridge it will stay cold and she can have someone come out in the morning.
I've since learned that her fridge is old and worn out and takes a while to restart after a power loss and she has decided to buy a newer fridge as soon as she can.

There has been so much damage to properties, I've just watched the news and feel rather helpless.

Conditions are supposed to improve by tomorrow afternoon here in Adelaide; I certainly hope so as I'll be travelling on buses to my son's home for the babysitting event.

According to TV news, SA is now a laughing stock (overseas in particular) over our state wide power loss. Fingers are being pointed, blame is being laid, no one is taking the blame of course, it's all the other person's fault.

Comments

  1. Around the world we stand at the mercy of the utility companies. Sorry you are having so much trouble.

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    Replies
    1. Granny Annie; our SA utility companies are holding us to ransom. We have the highest electricity costs in the world, but of course even they can't prevent things like this happening.

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  2. Good to hear you were fully prepared with your fully charged Kindle. While I am not overseas, I don't understand why SA would be a laughing stock. It was bad weather and perhaps there could have been other alternate routes for power to come to SA. But the storm knocked out transmission towers to your west and the Victorian power supply cable to your east. Much of Victoria was blacked out in the 2009 fires.

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    Replies
    1. Laughing stock was just something that caught my ear while watching the news, I didn't get the full context, but apparently some people somewhere, think we shouldn't have let this happen, there must have been some way to prevent a total state wide blackout. Perhaps such a thing has never happened where they are.I saw the broken and bent-to-the-ground transmission towers on the news. I was lucky enough to have power out for only seven hours, others are still waiting for power. My two youngest were grateful for the LED lamps I'd given them, but luckily their house has gas hot water and a gas stove, so they could still shower and cook. By lamplight :)

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  3. I hope things calm down soon. It sounds dreadful.

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  4. Good luck! Even though your electricity is back on it's obvious that not everything is, and you'll have to be creative in navigating the issues.

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  5. I hadn't heard about the storms there and it sounds scary especially for people with disabilities and health issues. I am sorry you are having these weather related problems.

    As Andrew said...I don't find anything about your situation as "funny". Quite sad that people wouldn't be empathetic. Bad weather and utilities outages are problems that often people have very little control over.

    I hope things get back to normal very soon.

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  6. Losing power any time is personally disruptive; coming with storms and danger is a lot more to deal with. Hoping the storms pass and the power returns very soon.

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  7. I notice that power went out again last night for lots of people. I hope that it can be restored quickly.
    Sigh on the blame front. Hiss and spit on the laughter.

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  8. I was wondering how things were going for you all in SA.
    Why would you be a laughing stock it is just bad luck, it could happen to any of us.
    Merle.........

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