WOOROLOO resident Lisa Christy found her valuable pet goldfish Google floating in his pond after Western Power failed to restore power outages caused by yesterday’s storm.
She went to bed and in the morning found her five-year-old Pearlscale barely alive and his companion Fergal struggling after hours without oxygenated water.
“Western Power said the power would be restored on Sunday at 7pm, at 10pm and then at 1am,” she said.
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READ NOWOn checking the Western Power website the next day, she discovered the new restoration time was unknown after more than 19 hours without power.
“Google was as big as a mandarin, a healthy and unique fish you could pat on the head; he was a personality,” she said.
“It turns out Western Power don’t have crews out here yet and they need traffic management in order to be able to make the repairs,” she said.
“Hundreds of people in the Hills had no power yesterday when there were reports of a few homes affected elsewhere, and it feels like we’ve been reprioritised because of other damage.
“We’ve now been without power for more than 24 hours.”
She bought a battery pump to oxygenate the tank for Fergal and is optimistic he will ‘pull through’ the trauma.
Western Power today said crews were continuing to respond to damage caused by severe weather across the Central Wheatbelt and the Great Southern regions.
Homes in Wooroloo, Parkerville and neighbouring suburbs were affected by the same storm front.
A resident in Wundowie reported appliances ‘blowing up’ after lightning struck her home and the damaging weather forced the closure of Wooroloo swimming pool.
Western Power said the storm caused widespread damage and at its peak more than 3000 people were left without power.
“The storm on Sunday afternoon broke conductor wires on Linley Valley Road disrupting power to more than 320 customers in the Wooroloo and Gidgegannup areas,” a spokesman said.
“Damage to conductors and the overhead cabling in Parkerville also cut power to more than 50 customers.
“Crews are onsite working to repair and replace the damaged infrastructure in the Hills’ areas with restoration expected this afternoon.”
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