Power outages cause chaos across Vic

Thousands of Victorians were still without power on Saturday as the state's
unprecedented heatwave dragged on with little relief in sight.
But it was a big improvement on Friday night's chaos when Melbourne's entire rail
network was shut down, with electricity cut off to about half a million homes and
businesses in the city's west, some parts of the CBD and western Victoria.
Victorian Premier John Brumby defended the state's power systems, saying the
blackout was the result of catastrophic events during a record heatwave, the likes
of which only occurred every 100 or 200 years.
"These are unprecedented conditions, it's the hottest week since records began," Mr
Brumby told reporters in the bushfire-affected Latrobe Valley.
The blackout was caused by an explosion at an electrical substation in South Morang
on Friday afternoon.
Tens of thousands of commuters were stranded, city buildings evacuated, traffic
lights in the CBD stopped working and even the poker machines went dead at Crown
Casino.
Victoria's major power companies said they'd been able to restore power to most
customers by Saturday afternoon.
Also, fewer Connex rail services were disrupted on Saturday with only 23 suburban
trains cancelled compared to at least 472 on Friday, and five V/Line rural services
suspended, compared to 45 the previous day.
United Energy and Jemena/Alinta spokesman John Kingsley-Jones said about 9,000 of
its customers were still without power.
Crews flown in from Tasmania, the ACT and Queensland were working "flat out" on
repairs under very difficult conditions, he said.
SPAusnet spokeswoman Louisa Graham said 2,000 of its customers in eastern Victoria
were without power on Saturday.
She said its systems were expected to be under less stress on Saturday due to
slightly milder temperatures and the closure of most industry over the weekend.
Citipower spokesman Scott Parker told AAP it was hoped that the 3,400 of its
customers still without power would have it restored by Saturday evening.
Mr Brumby said authorities had carefully managed power supplies during the hottest
week in the state's history but catastrophic incidents had thrown the system into
chaos.
"As far as power supplies go all week we have carefully managed supplies. The line
through South Morang literally exploded in the heat and I don't know if anybody
could ever have prevented that from occurring," he told Sky News.
However, Mr Brumby said he could not guarantee that another "catastrophic incident"
would not occur again.
"We're in uncharted waters, unprecedented conditions, and with the week and hot
weather (we have had), some of these systems have never been designed to operate in
44 to 45 degrees heat and barring any catastrophic incidents power supplies today
will be fine," Mr Brumby said.
"But I can never guarantee that there won't be an explosion at the grid or that
fires won't get into power lines."
Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said Friday's breakdown of basic services was a
demonstration of government neglect during 10 years in office.
"This government had $250 billion and 10 years and they have left Victoria's basic
services in this situation," he said.
"It is an extraordinary situation and Victorians have every right to be angry."
He said with the Australian Open showcasing Melbourne to the world, the state ran
the risk of being an international laughing stock.
"We have an important international event in Australia, in Melbourne, at the moment
and people can see what's going on here," he said.
"Not enough water, not enough power, trains out, blackouts."