Power cut after ute crashes into power pole

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A ute left Tucker Road at Makauri on Wednesday night and struck a power transformer pole. The people in the vehicle were lucky to escape injury,  firefighters said.

The ute ended up on top of the transformer pole and the power lines came down around the vehicle.

It happened at around 6.35pm.

“The people in the ute all got out without injury but their vehicle was entangled in the lines, which were still arcing when we arrived,” a senior firefighter said. “They were lucky.”

Firefighters and police stood by until faults staff arrived.

The crash caused a power outage that affected 185 households.

“The majority of our customers had power restored within 40 minutes,” said a FirstLight Network spokeswoman.

“Power was restored to the remaining customers within 90 minutes.

“There were three customers without power overnight Wednesday,” she said. “The repairs were carried out yesterday.”