3rd LD: Metropolitan areas in South Australia to get power in coming hours

Metropolitan areas including most of the Adelaide area are beginning to get power supply back Wednesday night after wild wind and thunderstorm led to a blackout across the entire state of South Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said at a press conference Wednesday night that about 80,000 lightning strikes were recorded hitting the power network and 22 major transmission poles are down. He said the wind was so strong that some of the poles were ripped out of the ground.

The power networks were shut down after the lightning strikes to avoid further damages.

Weatherill said SA Power Networks is continuing to work throughout the night to restore power. It could be still several hours before power is fully restored. People in the state's north are likely to be without power for "considerably longer than the rest of the state."

SA Department of Transport said all the electric trains and trams have been stopped service, which would not be restored until Thursday morning.

The emergency came amid severe weather with an intense low pressure system the worst to blast South Australia for more than 50 years.

Witnesses told Xinhua that the traffic lights in downtown Adelaide went dark late afternoon, forcing policemen to direct traffic at large intersections. Drivers on the road were urged to drive carefully.

Office buildings all went dark. There have been incidents where people got trapped in elevators when the power supply was cut. Fortunately, those trapped managed to free themselves later.

There have been no report about death or serious injuries so far.

The Premier has warned that the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula would face "destructive winds" of up to 125 kph on Thursday. Endit