OUTAGE: Crews from Fire and Rescue NSW attend Illaroo Road on Monday afternoon after a branch fell across power lines, causing a blackout in the area that lasted for more than an hour. A passing dog catches a wave from one of the firefighters.
RESIDENTS of a large part of North Nowra were without power for more than an hour on Monday afternoon after a tree branch fell across power lines on Illaroo Road.
The branch came off trees in front of Illaroo Road Public School at around 4.25pm and crossed two of the lines, blacking out 1118 Endeavour Energy customers.
For a short time residents thought the fire emergency that has gripped the area may have come to North Nowra when the branch caught fire and were concerned with strong winds blowing in the area at the time.
Crews from Fire and Rescue NSW attended the scene and inspected the branch, before crews from Endeavour Energy removed it and worked on fixing the fault.
With no power to the traffic lights at the corner of Illaroo Road and Crest Avenue police manned the intersection doing point duty, directing traffic.
Traffic on the road was temporarily affected while crews from Endeavour Energy undertook the repair.
Power was back on 74 minutes later by about 5.40pm.
Resident Narnie Heyligers said she heard a loud boom and then the power went off.
“There was another boom and we came out to see the branch across the lines on fire,” she said.
“It just sort of exploded in flames and then burnt itself out and it was really smoky.
“There was also a strong smell of hot electrics.”