Firstlight Network had teams out fixing power lines across the region. About 200 customers were still without power as of this morning. Photo / Firstlight
Firstlight Network had teams out fixing power lines across the region. About 200 customers were still without power as of this morning. Photo / Firstlight
Nearly 200 properties across the East Coast remained without electricity 72 hours after Cyclone Vaianu hit the country.
As of this morning, 194 customers were without electricity, largely in remote coastal and rural areas across the East Coast, Gisborne and Wairoa regions.
That number was less than 100 as ofthe afternoon.
According to East Coast lines company Firstlight Network, about 8200 customers had been affected since Sunday morning. At the peak, around 3100 properties were without power.
The main cause of the outages was trees falling from outside clearance zones, bringing down lines and poles.
“We have recorded 41 large regional faults on our 11kV network across a 12,000sq km area,” Firstlight Network manager George Drysdale said.
“The server wind affected more than half of our total 74 feeders. In addition, damage to the 50kV sub-transmission network, which supplies parts of the coast, including Te Araroa and the Mahia Peninsula, required around 1500 customers to be supported by emergency generation for up to 48 hours.
“While around 90% of customers were restored within the first 24 hours, often requiring helicopter access, the remaining outages are in isolated and hard-to-access locations, with some faults affecting 34 individual properties on the East Coast.”
A fallen power line on the East Coast. Firstlight Network said about 90% of customers were restored within the first 24 hours. Photo / Firstlight Network
Drysdale said their crews had been working around the clock in challenging conditions, prioritising repairs to restore power to the largest number of customers and maintaining supply to communities on temporary generation.
“We understand the impact this is having on those still without power and are working to restore supply as quickly and safely as possible. For some of the most remote properties, restoration may take through to Friday.”
Wharekahika/Hicks Bay resident Ani Pahuru-Huriwai said they had power in the village, but it was intermittent on the outskirts.
“There are still houses without power at Matakaoa Station and lots of people with half power ... enough to keep the lights on, but not enough to keep the freezer going,” she said.
Maree Brownlie, owner of Twilight Coffee Garden in Te Araroa, said they experienced ferocious winds that came in gusts, and massive sea swells on Sunday.
“We lost power in the afternoon, but the outage didn’t last long, with power back on that evening. The Coffee Garden was wind whipped but there was no major damage,” Brownlie said.
“The impact of the cyclone wasn’t as bad as we were expecting.”
According to outage information from Firstlight as of 3pm today:
Power on Kaiaua Rd had been partially restored, leaving three affected.
One customer was affected at Lottin Point.
Three customers were affected on Awanui Rd.
10 on Ihungia Rd
25 on Tauwhareparae Rd, Hokoroa Rd, Tutamoe Rd and Matanui Rd
Two at Arero, Anaura Bay, due to a broken x-arm
14 on Kopuapounamu Rd due to downed wires. A plan was in place to install a generator until permanent repairs could be made.
Eight at Panikau.
Power was partially restored at Matokitoki Valley, leaving two affected.
Two at Fox St.
Five at Hokoroa.
Four at Mahia-Kinikini due to multiple downed wires.
Five at Morere Mangatoto.
A worker was busy on Monday chopping up and clearing away a tree that went through a concrete fence at an unoccupied house in Gladstone Rd near the entrance to Harry Barker Reserve. Photo / Chris Taewa
Extensive tree damage in Gisborne
Cyclone Vaianu caused the most widespread tree damage Gisborne District Council staff had seen in a single event.
“Strong winds came from an unusual direction, making trees across our parks and reserves more vulnerable than usual,” a council statement said.
