Up to 1000 electricity customers in areas north and west of Napier were without power early afternoon today in cuts thought to have been caused as a bout of wind and rain hit the district.
Supply company Unison spokesman Danny Gough said just after 1pm an estimated 600 customers were without electricity in the Puketapu area towards the outskirts of Taradale, and another 300 in the Esk Valley area further north.
It was likely trees or branches had interfered with the supply in the Puketapu-Taradale area, in which it was hoped electricity would be quickly restored by rerouting supply.
But the Esk Valley outage was believed to have been caused by a tree falling across the lines which would mean some customers without power for two hours or more.
Earlier in the day, a cable fault, thought to be unrelated to the weather, caused a powercut in a small area of Havelock North, which included a temporary closure of the township's public library.
