Power restored to most Taihape households

Kristin Churchward and her family were without electricity for eight days this month. Photo/ file

Helicopters were used to restore electricity supply in the Mokai valley near Taihape last week.

The Mattock family was without power for eight days, after snow downed lines and poles in the previous week. Tree fellers came in first, then helicopters on Thursday, Trudi Mattock said.

Over in Pukeokahu Rd the Gordons also had eight days without electricity. Both families had generators to keep their freezers going.

They said there would still be some households in the Taihape hill country without electricity - the remotest, and those with long private lines to their houses.

"It could be another month before some people get it," Fraser Gordon said.

People had learned from the big snow of 2001 and were good at looking out for each other, Mrs Mattock said.

She is expecting there will be insurance claims from people whose freezers thawed out, and said communication difficulties were the worst problem. Her family's landline is provided by a repeater. Its batteries ran out, and there is no cellphone coverage.

There were some funny stories from the storm event. In one, a woman's children got bored with making snowmen or being indoors. She gave them squirty dye bottles, and they drew pictures on the snow.

In another, one of Mrs Mattock's daughters, who lives in the Moawhango Valley, wanted to visit her sister but the road was full of snow. She rugged up and drove a tractor over.

"It took her 45 minutes for a 10-minute trip."

The drama may not be over yet. Mr Gordon said more snow was expected this week.