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Update: Mid-Western Regional Council – 4pm Update: Essential Energy Thursday, 19 January 2017 - 11am The number of households and business affected by an unplanned power outage as a result of yesterdays strong winds has now been reduced to 1,009. Crews continue to work to restore power as quickly as safety allows for customers. We thank the SES who are currently assisting Essential Energy crews with repairing powerlines across a river. Thank you for your continued patience as we work to make repairs and restore power for all customers. Update: Mid-Western Regional Council Council is waiving all storm-related green waste fees for today, Thursday 19 January, following yesterday’s storm. Mudgee, Gulgong and Kandos Waste Transfer Facilities will be accepting green waste. Residents are reminded Mudgee Waste Transfer Station closes at 5.30pm, while Gulgong and Kandos close at 4.30pm. Please do not dispose of green waste at Rural Waste Transfer Stations as this is not an accepted waste type and is considered illegal dumping. Update: Essential Energy Thursday, 19 January 2017 - 8.20am The number of households and business affected by an unplanned power outage as a result of yesterdays strong winds is 1,716, which is down from 8,289. Essential Energy's Mudgee crews are being assisted by crews and equipment from seven other depots (Bathurst, Dubbo, Dunedoo, Molong, Narromine, Orange and Wellington) and vegetation contractors will also be assisting crews with restoring power as quickly as safety allows for customers. Crews are working to repair and re-energise major powerlines first and once this is complete they will target individual faults and customer problems, such as broken service lines which link homes and businesses to the power network. Given the amount of damage we are unable to provide estimated restoration times currently, but crews hope to be able to restore power to the majority of customers still impacted today. The strong winds have caused fallen powerlines, snapped power poles and debris in the electricity network. Essential Energy again urges the public to stay at least eight metres away from damaged or fallen electricity infrastructure. Update: Essential Energy Thursday, 19 January 2017 - 5.30am Overnight crews have reduced the number of customers affected by an unplanned power outage as a result of yesterday's high winds from 8,289 to 1,716. So as to ensure the availability of telephones for residents and to aid all emergency services with their responses, particular efforts were made last night to restore power to the main Mudgee Telstra exchange. Power was also restored to Mid-Western Regional Councils sewerage plant. Additional staff and equipment have already left other depots this morning to provide extra assistance to Mudgee crews. We would ask the community limit sightseeing as this is making it more difficult for crews to restore power. Thank you again for your understanding as we work as quickly as safety allows to restore power for all customers. Update: Mid-Western Regional Council Update: Power Essential Energy – 18 January 2017 - 6.45pm Crews are currently ensuring the safety of the public and continue to patrol the electricity network to determine the extent of the damage from this afternoons strong winds. An unplanned power outage is currently affecting 8,289 households and businesses including all of Mudgee. Given the amount of damage identified so far, we expect it will be several hours before power is restored to any customer and that some customers will remain off overnight. Additional crews and equipment are being brought in to assist our Mudgee based crews restore power for customers as quickly as safety allows. Please report any damage to the electricity network by calling 13 20 80 and stay at least eight meters away from fallen powerlines or anything touching them. Thank you for your understanding as we work to make repairs and restore power. Update: Road closures. Update: Council facilities are closed. Update: Current power outages with Essential Energy. The power company is working to fix the issue but power isn’t expected to be recovered for a few hours. Approx 8000 customers. Send us your photos. Email: ben.palmer@fairfaxmedia.com.au or head to our Facebook page. A massive storm has ripped through Mudgee on Wednesday afternoon, damaging property and pulling down trees and powerlines around the town. Wind gusts of up to 130km/hr were recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology in town at 4pm. A severe storm warning was issued for the area earlier on Wednesday afternoon said to bring heavy rain and damaging winds. The Mudgee Guardian took a walk around town after the storm to see some of the damage it created. You can watch our video below.

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