Imagine if we actually copped a cyclone?
The weather was wet and a little wild on the Western Cape last week but not even close to cyclonic.
Yet phones dropped out for a 10-hour period and the barge was late on arrival (twice) into Weipa.
Shoppers hoping to procure fruit and vegetables on Saturday morning left disappointed as not only did the Sea Swift barge turn up late into port, but couldn’t offload due to a mechanical breakdown.
The shipping company was scrambling on Saturday morning to get the containers offloaded.
Cape York and Torres Strait residents woke up on Thursday without phone signal after a power issue at the Batavia Downs radio transmission site at Wenlock.
The outage had been ongoing since Wednesday night and left residents unable to contact emergency services.
NBN services in Weipa and landline phones were also impacted.
“Recent heavy rainfall and cloud cover interrupted power to the site and the network, causing outages including Aurukun, Bamaga, Boigu Island, Mission River, Coconut Island, Dauan Island, Erub Island, Mission River, Injinoo, Lockhart River, Moa Island, Mabuiag Island, Mapoon, Mer Island, Nanum, Saibai Island, Ugar Island, Warraber Islet, Thursday Island, Rocky Point, Masig Island and Iama Island,” a Telstra spokesperson said.
“Power and fibre technicians were dispatched by helicopter from Cairns to inspect the site on Thursday afternoon to determine any other causes or issues in the network.”
This article appeared in Cape York Weekly, 1 February 2021.
