Canberra experienced its coldest night in more than a decade. The freezing temperatures caught households by surprise as it dropped to -9 degrees overnight.
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It was the second coldest night for the city and it led to jammed emergency services switchboards that prevented help arriving for people who had their water pipes burst, car radiators frozen and defective sprinkler systems.
The Department of Transport and Construction responded to more than 165 calls about frozen and burst pipes and mains. The department had to bring on three more plumbers and six contractors to keep up with the demand that usually only required one man to handle.
There were tripped alarms in about 10 buildings as the water pipes that served emergency sprinkler systems had frozen. On the roads, the icy conditions led to many motorists battling with frozen radiators, flat batteries and overheating engines. Roger Jarvis, assistant manager at NRMA, stated that nearly 400 calls came through requesting assistance, a potential record for Canberra.
Spokesmen from all the different services stated that people were simply unprepared for the sub-zero conditions as they failed to take the most simple precautions. In some homes, the damage reached into the thousands of dollars as householders did not know where the water stopcock was and therefore, were unable to simply turn off the water supply when the pipes burst.
![The front page of The Canberra Times on July 18, 1982. The front page of The Canberra Times on July 18, 1982.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/232169359/2cd08745-d8da-4777-bb76-2e7a2e7005cb.png/r0_0_942_1291_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The police and plumbers were called to numerous homes to turn off the water supply where the internal pipes had burst, but in one case, they were unable to respond in time and it led to the ceiling collapsing. Householders were informed to locate and keep stopcocks clear of garden equipment and rubbish, and to lag all external pipes.
Motorists were also told to make sure that their car batteries and electrical components were in good condition and to add an antifreeze solution to radiators unless the car already had a sealed cooling system.
Police reported an ACTION bus narrowly avoided an accident after skidding on black ice that formed after water from a burst main spread over Benjamin Way.