MASS POWER CUTS
Utility companies said more than 210,000 homes and businesses were still blacked out in Queensland, and another 10,000 in New South Wales.
In New South Wales, Essential Energy said repairs were underway across the storm-hit region, with “significant vegetation work to remove trees from power lines, re-standing power poles, replacing electrical assets and restringing power lines”.
“The weather pattern is still somewhat unpredictable. We’re expecting some increased rainfalls over the next 24 hours,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told a news conference.
Nevertheless, all but one of the evacuation notices in the state had been lifted, he said.
The wild weather has so far claimed at least one life, after a 61-year-old man’s four-wheel-drive pickup was swept off a bridge Friday in northern New South Wales.
He tried in vain to cling to a tree branch in the river before disappearing into the rapid waters, police said, and his body was found the next day.
In a separate incident Saturday, 13 soldiers were injured and taken to hospital when two army trucks rolled over during a deployment to clear roads near the flood-prone northern New South Wales city of Lismore.
All but one of the troops had been released from hospital by Monday, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.
“The one person who is still in hospital is in a stable condition. Not a life-threatening injury, and is expected to recover,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
“So that’s a relief.”
