Melissa Wihongi is devastated and in pain after knocking out her front teeth during a recent power outage. Photo / Jenny Ling
A Far North woman is distraught after smashing her four front teeth during one of the massive power outages plaguing the district.
Melissa Wihongi, 61, was getting ready for bed on the evening of November 6, when more than 23,000 households were plunged into darkness for six hours.
As she bent over to brush her teeth, and unable to see what she was doing, she hit her mouth on the tap faucet.
The impact knocked out four of her front, bridged teeth - two teeth which were connected to adjacent teeth – and left a “gaping hole”.
“I misjudged the distance as I couldn’t see it [the tap].
“It snapped two anchors in my jaw.
“I just sat there and cried, I couldn’t believe it because I know what it’s going to involve.
“The impact on me is going to be thousands of dollars that we don’t have.”
Wihongi, who lives in Pakaraka and is on an invalid’s benefit, is still in “a lot of pain”.
As she didn’t have a torch, she thought she could manoeuvre her way around the house to the bathroom as she’d done many times before.
“We had a candle in the bedroom burning, so I got up and walked in there, I just didn’t think anything of it.
“It’s such a small house, and I know my way around here, but I’d never brushed my teeth in the dark before.”
While she managed to get an emergency appointment with a Kerikeri dentist the next day, it was only a temporary fix.
Wihongi said she still needs permanent reconstruction work done.
“The dentist said it’s a temporary fix, it’s not going to hold.
“This is going to be a lot of work to permanently repair it.”
A claim has been filed with ACC, however “if they don’t accept it, I’m in huge trouble,” Wihongi said.
Wihongi said she and her husband, who is on a pension, were also “freaking out” during the recent power outage because they’d just done their fortnightly grocery shop.
“We were panicking that we were going to lose $400 worth of food we’d bought that day if the power didn’t come back on.
“That was the second time in a week.”
More than 23,000 households across the southern part of the district, including the Bay of Islands, Kawakawa, Whangaroa, Kaikohe and parts of the Hokianga, were left without electricity for more than six hours from 5.21pm to 11.40pm on Thursday.
The outage was caused by a switchboard failure at a Kaikohe substation.
Just days before, on October 31, the power went out about 3.40pm, disconnecting the same 23,000 customers.
Initially, equipment failure at the Kaikohe substation was suspected, but a tree had fallen on to the 33kV line to Mt Pokaka.
Further outages lasting several hours impacted more than 2000 residents in the Hokianga, including Omanaia, Opononi, Oue, Rawene, Waimamaku, Wekaweka, Taheke, and Waima, on Saturday.
That weekend there was also an outage affecting 200 customers around Puketona and Oromahoe.
Power was restored by 10pm.
Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw apologised for the ongoing disruptions.
Shaw said the Kaikohe substation failure was “totally unrelated” to the other weekend outages due to lightning, wind and rain that caused trees and branches to hit power lines.
“We totally appreciate the inconvenience and frustration outages cause,” he said.
“With all the events occurring over the last week it is understandable that the community thought they may be related.
“They were not.”
Shaw said he was also sorry to hear about Wihongi’s injury.
“As with other accidental injuries in New Zealand, ACC is usually the right avenue for support.”
Shaw urged Northlanders to “always be prepared for power outages” and to visit Top Energy’s website for tips on how to be prepared.
“No electricity network can ever be completely fault-free, especially in a region like ours with long rural lines, fast-growing vegetation, and frequent severe weather.”
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.