Since Tropical Cyclone Seroja caused chaos across regions of Western Australia on Sunday night/Monday morning, Western Power have been working tirelessly to assess the damage caused and repair the network.

Western Power have provided an update on their progress.

Their assessment has found damage to around 130 poles leading to over 25,000 homes to remain without power. While they are working steadily, they anticipate some areas will remain without power for weeks.

Work has commenced in Geraldton and significant repairs have been achieved on the transmission lines in the area. They aim to have the transmission lines powered this morning to progressively restore the power to properties in the area soon after.

Western Power have been able to gain access to the smaller communities north of Geraldton and are working through them to continue to assess damage and remove any hazards. They have anticipated the network in this area requires significant work to be completed before returning the area to normal.

In  the Wheatbelt region, Western Power are progressively clearing hazards and assessing the damage caused by the tropical cyclone. Where possible, they will be restoring power as they move through.

If people’s property are not damaged and are wanting to use generators to tide them over until power is returned, they are asking that people ensure they are following any specifications and guidelines, and to ensure they are connected legally.

They continue to request that if people see any damaged or downed powerlines, to remain at least 8 metres away and to report it to Western Power on 13 13 51. Updates can still be viewed directly from Western Power on their website.

Western Australia has been battered by a tropical cyclone on Sunday night/Monday morning causing widespread damage. Tropical cyclone Seroja hit land around 8pm Sunday night with winds greater than 150km/h.

The storm area was over 700km long and 150km wide and caused damage to the Midwest and Wheatbelt regions.

Western Power, who maintains the electricity network across parts of Western Australia, released information at 3pm local time on the 12th April:

• Western Power teams are assessing the damages caused to the network by Tropical Cyclone Seroja via ground and air.
• Due to the extent of the storm, repair to the network may take a number of days, although they are working to ensure the community will have access to power as soon as possible.
• Approximately 30,000 customers remain without power across the region.
• Customers relying on life-support equipment will need to ensure they follow any back up plan they have in place.
• Planned outage work within the region has been cancelled, while consideration has been placed on any outage work outside the region to see if it can be redirected to the affected areas.
• The primary aim of Western Power is to ensure any hazards are made safe as they work to restore the network.
• Western Power will continue to provide updates via their website, social media and radio.
• They have requested that if people see any damaged or downed powerlines, to remain at least 8 metres away and to report it to Western Power on 13 13 51.

On the 27th February, The Tree Guild of WA hosted their annual Tree Climbing Championship.

A great turn out arrived at the Point Walter Reserve to watch the best WA has to offer competing across several events such as Aerial Rescue, Work Climb and Speed Climb.

Arborist Riki Peterson was the overall victor and his performance has earned him airfares and entry into the Australian Tree Climbing Championship (ATCC) on the Gold Coast later this year. We wish Riki the best of luck at the ATCC. The overall results can be viewed at The Tree Guild of WA’s website.

The event was a great success and it was entertaining to watch the next generation of tree climbers on the kids climbing wall.

Interlink Training is a proud sponsor of The Tree Guild of WA. If you are interested in finding out more about our involvement in such events, please contact us online or by calling us on 1300 731 669.

As 2020 continues to be a year of challenges, it is nice to be able to share some good news! Despite everything that this year has thrown at us, Shane from WA TreeWorks has powered through and completed his Certificate III in Arboriculture with Interlink!

It has been an absolute pleasure and we wish Shane all the best with his new skills.

Shane is pictured below receiving his Certificate from David, Managing Director of WA TreeWorks.

Learn more about WA TreeWorks and Tree Removal here.

This is the best part of our job, to see happy students’ receive their qualifications! Fantastic work to Bill from Arbor Guy for completing his Certificate III in Arboriculture with us.

Bill is pictured with Guy (Director) and Brett (General Manager) of Arbor Guy, I am sure they are very proud of Bill, as are we! It has been a pleasure.