Northland news in brief: bamboo cuts power to thousands and another Lotto win

The bamboo branch that caused a power outage for thousands in Whangārei on Wednesday when it hit a power line.

Bamboo causes power cut

A bamboo branch blown on to 33kV lines cut power to thousands of Whangārei homes on Wednesday night. Northpower public affairs manager Steve Macmillan said the bamboo, which hit the lines at 6.42pm, took out power to 7948 customers in Onerahi, Parua Bay, Ngunguru and associated areas. Macmillan said the circuit breaker tripped at the Tikipunga sub-station which affected power to those areas. Power was restored to 6004 customers at Onerahi and Parua Bay in eight minutes and to 1944 customers at Ngunguru in 16 minutes.

Second division win

A Lotto ticket sold in Kaikohe was among five nationally that each won their holder more than $30,000 with Lotto Second Division in Wednesday night's draw. The ticket, sold at Kaikohe Paper Plus, was among five that each won $32,585. It means Northland has started 2019 continuing its lucky Lotto roll after 18 players won First Division Powerball, Lotto or Strike winners prizes and 34 Northland players won Second Division in Northland in 2018 .

Good Samaritan found

Waima's Good Samaritan has been found. Earlier this week Clemens Zamboni, a Kiwi who has lived in Japan for the past 20 years, contacted the Northland Age and Northern Advocate in a bid to find a Hokianga woman who had rescued him and his family — his mother, Japanese wife and young son — when their rental car got a puncture on the way to Waipoua Forest last year. He wrote down the woman's name and address so he could send her a thank you letter but lost it before he got home to Tokyo. A reader recognised the woman in Zamboni's photo as Fenah Henry of Waima, who then contacted the paper. Zamboni said he was delighted and would get in touch to offer a belated thank you from his family. It was often the ''incidental kindness of strangers'' that made the greatest impact during travel, he said.

Parking correction

A story in the Northern Advocate yesterday about the introduction of paid parking at Whangārei Airport incorrectly stated it would cost $2 for every hour after the first hour. The correct amount is $1. The error was as a result of wrong information supplied by the airport.