Most of Queensland is left without electricity after explosion at power plant causes blackouts affecting hundreds of thousands of homes
- 375,000 homes and businesses plunged into darkness amid power outage
- Most of Queensland is affected after power plant experienced explosion
- Callide power plant remains on fire with crews and scientists on the scene
- Chaos on Queensland roads as traffic lights are blacked out across the state
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Queensland have been plunged into darkness after an explosion at a power station cut electricity.
Residents from South East Queensland to the Central and Far North regions found themselves without power from about 2pm on Tuesday.
An explosion and subsequent fire at the Callide power station near Biloela in Central Queensland is believed to be the root cause of the statewide outages.
A turbine remains on fire at the station and staff have all been evacuated, according to the ABC.
Paramedics are on the scene, supporting a scientific team tasked with investigating the ‘still unfolding’ matter.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Queensland have been plunged into darkness after an explosion at a power station cut electricity (Pictured: A shopping centre plunged into darkness on Tuesday afternoon)
Callide is a coal-fired station which supplies electricity to the national grid from two separate sites.
Ergon Energy released a statement warning ‘tens of thousands of customers’ are without power as of 3.30pm on Tuesday.
Energex also revealed at least 375,000 homes from the Gold Coast to Caboolture on the Sunshine Coast are without power.
But there are reports people as far south as Tweed Heads on the New South Wales border and north in Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton are experiencing outages.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services confirmed the incident occurred about 2:00pm and is ongoing.
A fire and possible explosion at the Callide power station near Biloela in Central Queensland is believed to be the root cause of the statewide outages
Energex is investigating the widespread outage, as commuters are warned to take extra care on the roads with the traffic light network also impacted.
A statement from the company urged customers to only contact them in life threatening situations as they try to restore power.
One driver claimed to have passed 11 blacked-out traffic lights while driving through Brisbane.
Australian Traffic Network reporter Adam Smith said it would likely be ‘a messy and long afternoon’ on Queensland roads – particularly during peak hour and school pick up.
Several crashes have already been reported in Chermside and Aspley in Brisbane since the outages.
Energex revealed at least 375,000 homes from the Gold Coast to Caboolture on the Sunshine Coast are without power, while Ergon Energy also revealed tens of thousands of customers were impacted
A spokesman for CS Energy, the operators of the Callide power station, revealed they ‘acted immediately’ following the incident.
‘At approximately 1:45pm today, a fire occurred in one of the turbine halls at the power station,’ the statement read.
‘As a result, the three units that were generating at the time went offline.
‘We immediately evacuated the power station and called emergency services to attend site.’
Nobody at the site was injured, the spokesman confirmed.