Storms, bushfires shut power supplies to thousands of Australians

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – At least one person died and hundreds of others were left without electricity on Wednesday in Australia's state of Victoria due to extreme weather, including storms, strong winds, lightning and bushfire, officials said.

The state was swept by the deadly storms and destructive bushfires since late Tuesday.

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action said while electricity network crews have "restored power to a large number of properties following yesterday’s severe storms, about 250,000 homes and businesses are still without power in Victoria due to storm damage, down from a peak of 530,000 yesterday (Tuesday) evening."

Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said Victoria witnessed “one of the largest outage events in the state's history,” ABC News reported.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said one dairy farmer died in Mirboo North due to storms over South Gippsland Tuesday night.

“Given the extent of the widespread damage, it may take days, if not weeks, to restore electricity to all of those impacted,” said the energy department. ​​​​​​​

The extreme weather has also impacted several mobile phone communication towers as the authorities moved faster to restore cell phone network.