Thousands of Perth homes are without electricity after rain and humidity combined to spark power pole fires overnight.
Humid conditions or light rain can combine with dust and pollution and create paths or"tracks" on the insulators, allowing electricity to jump across.About 23,000 properties had supplies restored overnight by back-feeding power around the damaged sections of the network.
Main Roads WA warned motorists to be wary of traffic signals blacked out in various suburbs throughout the metropolitan area and about power poles being down in some areas. Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Steph Bond said Perth received 1.2 millimetres of rain on Wednesday night and could expect a few more showers on Thursday morning.But the weather was expected to heat up again next week, with temperatures returning to the mid-30s on Sunday and increasing to the high 30s next week.
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