As reported earlier there has been substantial rainfall, as well as thunderstorms, in several areas of regional WA resulting in widespread power outages, which may also affect water supply.
Western Power has requested impacted households be patient as crews respond to hundreds of hazards and assess and repair damage across a large area from the Wheatbelt to Perth Hills.
Acting chief executive officer Jacqui Hall said she understood the frustration and inconvenience the current power outage was causing people but offered assurance that crews were working as fast as they could within safety precautions.
"The safety of the community and our crews is paramount," Ms Hall said.
"The dangerous storm conditions caused multiple faults across a large area of the network, with hundreds of hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down from the Wheatbelt to the Perth Hills area.
"Around 22,000 homes and businesses power supply remain affected down from 34,000 at the peak.
"We have also been working to repair damage elsewhere on the network with customers impacted by fire and lightning strikes without power from incidents over previous days. "While we are still scoping the damage, there are more than a hundred poles and hundreds of kilometres of conductor damaged across the network.
"The damage area is massive, with seven transmission lines out of service.
"Western Power crews worked through the night to respond to hundreds of hazards due to the storm, and we have 100 remaining that we are responding to make safe before repairs and restoration can commence.
"All available crews, including regional, have been deployed and we have called contractors in and mobilised helicopter patrols."
Mrs Hall said she knew unknown current restoration times were frustrating, but at this stage until damage and the repairs required were determined, accurate restoration times could not be provided.
"Our response and repair work are dependent on high fire weather conditions as we cannot restore power until it is safe," she said.
"We'd encourage customers impacted by the outages to consider making alternative arrangements as their duration may be extended.
"To help progress line patrols and assess damage, helicopter patrols started this morning, and our network operations team is continuing to work to safely isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible.
"The thunderstorm, severe heatwave and high-risk fire weather conditions experienced during the past four days have been challenging."
If people see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and call Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51.
Additionally, following the widespread power outages in the Central Wheatbelt, Water Corporation has warned of possible water supply disruptions.
A statement released this afternoon said Central Wheatbelt townships and associated farmlands customers may experience water supply disruption following a major, ongoing power outage affecting large areas of the region.
Low pressure or no water supply could potentially affect customers across the Central Wheatbelt and south-eastern Moore electorates.
Water Corporation said they are liaising closely with Western Power and other agencies to minimise the impact across the region, including deploying generators to priority sites, but reinforced that as the power outages are extensive, restoration timeframes are currently unknown.
All water supply outages should be reported to Water Corporation on 13 13 75.
