Thousands of nervous Richmond fans were given a scare when their power was cut just hours before the Tigers take on Greater Western Sydney on Saturday afternoon for the chance to book a spot in the AFL grand final for the first time since 1982.
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Power was cut to about 14,000 homes and businesses in Richmond, Hawthorn, Cremorne, Abbotsford, Kew and Burnley at about 11.45am, a CitiPower spokeswoman confirmed.
Richmond/Hawthorn/Cremorne/Kew/Burnley 11:45am
The power is still out although public transport is working #afltigersgiants pic.twitter.com/y4a6JSH9pE??? Incident Alert-VicSA (@incident_alert) September 23, 2017
More than 30 traffic lights also went down causing heavy traffic in the area, a VicRoads spokesperson said.
But in good news for football fans, power is expected to be back on with plenty of time before the first ball is bounced at the MCG.
The CitiPower spokeswoman said crews had restored power to about 13,000 customers by 12.15pm.
She said the final 1000 would likely have their power restored within the hour.
Traffic lights in the Richmond area are slowly coming back online after an earlier power outage. Still 15 sets that are out #victraffic??? VicTraffic (@VicTraffic) September 23, 2017
It is believed strong winds may have caused the outage, with a severe weather warning in place for much of the state.
However the CitiPower spokeswoman said the cause of the outage could not be confirmed until maintenance crews had finished their work.
