Electricity being restored to north Qld

Power is slowly being returned to north Queensland after a massive outage blacked
out all homes and businesses north of Townsville.

Powerlink Queensland said an unexpected fault to the main transmission network south
of Townsville caused the problem about 5.45pm (AEST) on Thursday.
Chief operating officer Simon Bartlett told ABC Radio that crews were restoring
power progressively.
"We're working as quickly as we can to get the customers back on again," Mr Bartlett
said.
A lightning strike could be to blame but it was too early to determine the cause, he
said.
"We've had some really severe lightning storms, as everyone knows, throughout the
state, and these lightning bolts can hit the transmission system," he said.
Two large power stations in the Townsville region were coming back on line about
6.30pm (AEST) with power stations in the Cairns area to follow.
Both cities should have power around 7pm (AEST).