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Weather blacks out thousands of houses across Perth

The weather front cut power to a swathe of homes from Perth's north to its south. Photo: Western Power

The weather front cut power to a swathe of homes from Perth's north to its south. Photo: Western Power

More than 21,000 houses have been left without electricity across Perth and other parts of Western Australia after weather-related damage to power poles.

Western Power said more than 100 power poles were damaged by humidity and moisture from a weak weather front overnight on Wednesday.

By Thursday afternoon, crews were working to restore power across the metropolitan area and as far north as Kalbarri.

“There were around 60 pole-top fires,” a spokesperson said.

“When we have misty and/or humid conditions (generally along the coast) or light drizzling rain, this can combine with dust and pollution and create paths or ‘tracks’ on the insulators, which let electricity jump across.”

Western Power said it had abandoned all scheduled work for Thursday and put crews to work restoring power.

About 50,000 homes and businesses were affected at the peak of the damage.

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