SA certainly got smashed, and I've just had internet restored. Over 20 high voltage transmission towers in the mid north are damaged, with some blown over. Saturated soils combined with the high winds are being blamed. Other problems with the long term power outages have included sewerage pumps failing, reduced phone communications as battery backups on towers fail, two of our major metro hospitals had their emergency generators fail causing major problems in those hospitals, electric trains and trams stopping, traffic lights out, prangs everywhere etc etc etc.
At home we had no damage, other than a huge drenching, and our power was out from 1600hrs until 2015hrs, so in terms of power outage, we got out of it lightly. Many areas may be powerless for days. It's interesting watching the politicians bureaucratic spin doctors ducking and weaving, in light of our recent major power station closure and extensive reliance on wind generation, which can only work when normal power supply is on-line.
On a more personal level, just after the state wide outage hit, my old Dad had a stroke, and remains very ill and in the Flinders Medical Centre. Well done to the staff for caring for him so well under difficult conditions.
