As at 6 o'clock this morning, Essential Energy reported more than 39,000 homes and businesses were without power, with winds bringing down trees and blowing debris into powerlines overnight.

An Essential Energy spokesperson said, "The current weather conditions are preventing Essential Energy crews from making repairs at this time; however, teams have undertaken significant preparation work, including moving vehicles to assist access, arranging for fuel pods, logistics and communication tools for crews, readying extra resources from across the state to support when safe to do so and ensuring extra electrical equipment is available and ready to deploy into the area.

"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. 

"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.

"Throughout the storm, customers should look out for indicators of potential damage to the electricity network, such as: 

• Fallen powerlines or power poles on land or in water 
• flickering or no power supply 
• burnt areas in paddocks or roadsides 
• injured or downed livestock 
• smoke or fallen trees 

"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 our website outages page.

There have also been outages across the NBN network, some 20,000 customers have service outage across their fixed line and fixed wireless networks.

For a full list of affected areas and suburbs click IMPORTANT UPDATES - Cyclone Alfred  

An NBN spokesperson said, "Power outages are the main reason for nbn service disruptions. Nbn services are likely to restore when mains power is back. Equipment connected via the nbn will not work during a power outage.  

"There may be some damage to our infrastructure. Once it is safe, we will begin assessments and repairs."