A large tree took out powerlines near Lambton Pool, causing a blackout for nearby properties | Image supplied.
Thousands of local residents awoke to find the power out this morning.
A major outage at Lambton was detected around 3.30am after a large tree fell, taking out overhead power lines and plunging nearly 1400 homes and businesses into darkness.
Ausgrid has been able to get the lights back on for all but 365 customers in the area.
However, the electricity is not expected to be fully restored until at least 4 o’clock this afternoon when “complex repairs” have been carried out.
Meantime, an underground fault caused a separate outage which affected around 1100 properties in Charlestown and Gateshead today.
Crews were able to address the issue after it was discovered around 7.30 this morning, with the power back on for most homes and businesses by 9 o’clock, before services were fully restored to a pocket of Gateshead which had remained in the dark until about 12.30pm.
For the latest updates on power outages in your area visit the Ausgrid website.