About 30,000 people in Tasmania were without power, power officials said. (Representative)
Sydney:
Tens of thousands of people in Australia’s southern island state of Tasmania were without power on Sunday after a cold front brought damaging winds and heavy rain, prompting flood warnings.
“About 30,000 customers are without power this morning across the state,” Tasnetworks, a state energy company, said on Facebook on Sunday.
The country’s weather forecaster said on its website that a cold front over Tasmania, with a population of about 570,000 people, was moving away, “although bands of showers and thunderstorms remain a risk for damaging wind gusts.”
Properties, power lines and infrastructure were damaged, Tasmania’s Emergency Management Minister Felix Ellis said at a televised media conference, adding that “the damage bill is likely to be significant”.
Emergency authorities warned of flooding, which they said could leave Tasmanians isolated for several days, as the state prepared for another cold front to hit on Sunday evening.
“There is a possibility that properties could be flooded and roads may not be accessible,” Mick Lowe, executive director of the Tasmania State Emergency Service, said in a statement.
According to the agency, authorities received 330 requests for assistance in the past 24 hours.
Tasmania is a one-hour flight or 10-hour ferry crossing from the mainland city of Melbourne, 445km away. About 40% of the island consists of wilderness or protected areas.
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