About 50,000 households and businesses across the North Island are without power this morning, with one power company saying it could last a week or more in some cases.
Northpower is reporting that 18,500 households and businesses in its Upper North Island network were without power.
“We will be throwing everything at restoring power as quickly as we can,” the company said.
It said those affected by the outage will be without power over the coming days and in some cases a week or more.
Whitianga volunteer fire fighters help clear a downed tree on the raod to Tairua as Cyclone Gabrielle smashes into the Coromandel with strong winds and rain.
Photo / Mike Scott
In Auckland, Vector said this morning that 15,000 of its customers were without power.
“Our crews have worked through the night to restore as many as they safely can, while more outages continue to impact the network as a result of strong winds and vegetation,” the company said.
“With the worst of the weather forecast for later today, we do expect further outages across the region and our crews are prepared for this. In some instances, it’s likely these outages will be prolonged as our crews encounter challenges, such as road access caused by fallen trees or slips, which could delay repair times.”
The worst of the weather is yet to come, Aucklanders have been warned. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Counties Energy is reporting about 2500 properties without power across its network region.
Outages span from the Awhitu Peninsula through to Kaiaua and over the Waikato River to Pukekawa.
Particularly affected currently are those at the top Manukau Heads on the Awhitu Peninsula, Hunua/Paparimu/Ararimu/Bomaby/Mangatawhiri area, and across the Waikato River through Mercer, Onewhero and Pukekawa.
“We are officially in storm response,” it said in a statement.
“We have brought in additional crews and currently have 27 crews working systemically throughout the region.”
It was advising customers to prepare for prolonged power outages, possibly over multiple days, as more outages are expected in the coming 24 hours.
“It will take time to repair a huge amount of damage to the network caused largely by trees and debris hitting the lines, lines down from high winds, and power poles from slips and we have been advising customers of this,” she said.
MetService’s head of communication Lisa Murray issued a warning this morning saying “today is going to be the worst day for most regions”.
The “eye of the storm” was expected to hit Great Barrier Island at midnight, about 100km northeast of Auckland.
Auckland Emergency Management’s deputy controller Rachel Kelleher said the city had gusts of up to 130km/h overnight, and further impacts from the cyclone coming this afternoon, tonight, and into Tuesday morning.
She said the heavy rain had the potential to destabilise power poles in areas already sodden from recent storm events.
“We do our very best to prepare for extreme weather events and respond quickly by having extra crews on the ground ready to make repairs and restore power to our customers.
”We understand it’s hard to be without power. The safety of our crews is paramount, however, and climbing ladders to fix equipment at the top of power poles is just too dangerous in the conditions that have been hitting Hauraki-Coromandel.”
She said the company was working as quickly as possible to get customers reconnected.
Meanwhile, Haydon urged people to stay well away from downed power lines.
”It’s incredibly important that if you come across downed power lines that you treat them as live at all times. Stay well clear,” she said.
· Many insurers cover food spoilage from a power outage, and may also cover temporary accommodation if you can’t stay at home. Check your policy or phone your insurer.
