Rachel Hagan, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Businesses across Yorke Peninsula went dark and many closed their doors on Friday, March 14, after the peninsula was hit with a complete power and phone outage. However, some managed to stay open with the use of back-up generators and some out-of-the-box thinking.

One of the lucky businesses was Karimi’s Kitchen Takeaway at Alford, which had a surge of customers who needed their breakfast. Owner Karimi Manners said she had to choose between using her generator for the coffee machine or the fridges. “We decided to take the fridge option because it is a very hot day, and then at least people can have cool drinks,” Ms Manners said on Friday.

“But I haven’t been able to do any baking today because the oven might need a lot more when it comes to using the generator.” Ms Manners said she probably had about six hours left with her current generator when the YP Country Times spoke to her midmorning, but she did have some back-up generators ready to go, if the outage persisted.

“I think the big thing is it’s a very hot day, and tomorrow is another hot day, so it’s going to be whether the generators want to cope with the heat too,” she said. “It’s a bit of a challenge for a small business, but we’ve always had a generator.”

Further down YP, the people of Stansbury still managed to have fantastic hairdos because of the kindness shown by Dalrymple Hotel licensees Rob and Georgie Rankine, who shared their generator with local hair salon, Hair at the Bay. Hair at the Bay owner Michelle Varricchio said she got to work on Friday morning and could hear the generator across the road.

“Rob and Georgie are friends of mine, but they’re also very good community-minded people, so I raced over and said ‘would you mind if I set up in the Shag Bar beer garden?’ and he said ‘go for it’,” Ms Varricchio said. Hair at the Bay clients still had their hair washed in the comfort of the salon but were then taken for a scenic walk across the road for their blow dry.

“Customers were happy to do it, and they actually enjoyed sitting out there,” she said. “I even offered them a glass of wine, but there were no takers.” Though Ms Varricchio had a great morning, the heat took its toll. “My afternoon did shorten a bit by a few hours, but I was one of the lucky ones who could actually still work,” she said.

L-R: Crays safe. Young assistant Brodie from Lower Yorke Seafood and SALT Food and Events made sure all their crayfish were kept safe during the outage; Closed. McDonald’s Kadina was one of the first places to close on Friday morning, leaving many customers without their morning coffee; Cold drinks. Karimi Manners from Karimia’s Kitchen Takeaway, Alford, luckily had a bunch of generators ready to go for an emergency like this; Stylish. ob Rankine from the Dalrymple Hotel helped his neighbour Hair at the Bay’s Michelle Varricchio with a generator in his beer garden, so her clients could still get that perfect hairdo.
Photos: Yorke Peninsula Country Times.

Warooka’s Lower Yorke Seafood and SALT Food and Events managed to keep all its crayfish alive with the use of generators, but the restaurant only made $40.50 for the whole day. Chef Christopher Morey said, because the EFTPOS machine ran out of battery and there was no ATM available, the restaurant also lost a $100 sale.

“We had three customers, and we normally do between 50 to 80 on a Friday,” Mr Morey said. However, not everyone was so lucky and some businesses, such as Minlaton Bakery, had to stay closed even after the power came back on.

“We have nothing ready to bake, and if the power isn’t on soon, we face losing thousands of dollars in product alone that we have in our cool rooms and freezers,” the bakery’s Friday afternoon Facebook post said. “We do not even want to think about the potential loss — it’s simply sickening. Most will say ‘aren’t you insured?’ Yes, we are, but it’s a grey area when it comes to power failure — it’s never anyone’s fault.

The bakery said it now faced a mammoth task to get through the next few days and was focusing on a baking schedule plan for the next few weeks. “We thank everyone for supporting us today and giving our staff a laugh or two asking if they can have their bread sliced,” the post said.

See more stories on the power outage in the issue. 
This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 18 March 2025.