Logs take out pole, fence in spilt load at Te Puia Springs

The scene of the log truck accident at Te Puia Springs on State Highway 35. The truck's trailer rolled on to its side and logs went through a power pole and the front fence of a house (see the following picture in this gallery). Pictures by Rob Graham

State Highway 35 at Te Puia Springs was blocked for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon after a loaded log truck lost its trailer on the bend just south of the council offices in the township.

The spilled logs took out an 11kV power pole and crashed through the front fence of a house.

It happened at around 4pm.

An Eastland Network spokesman said the incident cut power to 160 customers at the outset.

“We had power back on to 150 of them within 45 minutes and the others were reconnected on Saturday,” the spokesman said

A witness said the road was closed for about two hours and it was several hours after that before the spilled logs were cleared.

Traffic built up for a couple of kilometres in both directions on the highway until the road reopened.

Meanwhile a crop harvester struck 11Kv powerlines in a farm paddock on Whakarau Road at around 9.30am on Saturday and it cut power to more than 60 customers.

“We had power back on to about 40 of them within an hour-and-a-half,” the network spokesman said.

The rest of the customers were reconnected later in the day Saturday.

“The driver of the harvester was lucky not to have been injured.”

Network staff were called to a vehicle crash on the East Coast Road at Mahia at 11am on Saturday after a car left the road and struck a concrete power pole.

“There was no power disruption in that case and the pole will be replaced today.”