Thanks to a break in the weather today (Saturday, March 8) across parts of the Northern Rivers, Essential Energy crews were able to make some progress towards restoration.

As of 4.30pm, there are around 31,000 homes and businesses without power in various communities from Tweeds Heads through to Grafton due to the impacts of ex-cyclone Alfred.

An Essential Energy spokesperson said crews were able to safely restore power to around 19,500 properties throughout the day, however, continued extreme weather has resulted in additional outages.

"There has been a flood watch issued for multiple areas including the regions of Lismore, Dorrigo and Kyogle with significant rainfall forecast over the coming days. Customers are encouraged to prepare to be without power for several days as the extreme weather conditions continue to make it unsafe for crews to work in and cause damage to the network.

"When the weather clears, additional crews will be brought in to assist with the cleanup and repairs; however, access to locations prone to flooding or landslides will delay restoration in some of the hinterland or more remote areas of the region.

"If flood waters impact communities, it will lengthen the time before power can be restored. Crews are unable to turn the power on safely if powerlines or areas of the network are in contact with water. 

"If you need to evacuate for flood purposes, if safe to do so, please turn off all switches and mains before the flood goes through. This includes solar and/or battery systems. 

"We understand this is a very challenging time for our customers and we thank you for your patience and understanding. The safety of our crews and our communities is paramount.

"We understand that this is a very challenging time for our customers and we thank you for your patience and understanding. The safety of our crews and our communities is paramount. For information about evacuation centres in your area, please visit the NSW SES website. 

If you see any of the above or powerlines in water, please stay away and call Essential Energy on 13 20 80 to report the damage. In an emergency always call 000.

For up-to-date information on impacted locations and estimated restoration times (when known), visit the Essential Energy website outages page.

NBN says 209,000 non services have been affected across South East Queensland and Northern NSW.

Across Northern NSW the number of affected services has reduced to about 21,000 across 50 areas, primarily located in the Tweed and Ballina local government areas. 

For a full list of affected areas and suburbs please see here:  IMPORTANT UPDATES - Cyclone Alfred. 

An nbn spokesperson said, "Most of the impact is caused by mains power outages. Equipment connected to the nbn network will not work during a power outage. The number of outages will fluctuate as the power situation changes in the impacted areas.  

"Approximately 700 of our sites are operating on backup power, supporting around 28,000 services. It is too early to tell if there is any damage to network assets. We have teams ready to go in the impacted areas to assess any damage to commence repairs once it is safe. 

"Our top priority remains the safety of our team and the broader community."