Blackout affects Sydneys CBD

There have been power blackouts across central Sydney and the city's east.

Energy Australia says it is investigating the problem, but says that the power supply to two major substations cut out.

"Our crews are finding what caused them to switch off, and when they do they can re-route the supply and get power back to everybody," said spokeswoman Kylie Yates.

She says around 70,000 homes and business have been affected.

The power cuts began about 4:45pm AEDT.

Energy Australia says it does not know when power will be restored.

The Roads and Traffic Authority's spokesman Alec Brown says power failure is causing major disruption on the roads.

"There are up to 100 sets of traffic lights affected by the current outage," he said.

The Fire Brigade says dozens of people stranded in lifts have had to be rescued.

The Sydney Opera House has announced that it is cancelling all performances tonight, while CityRail says its trains have not been affected because they are serviced by a different power supply.

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Mon 30th March 2009 - 06:22pm