Cyclone Gabrielle: The challenge to get power to 2400 properties near Napier

A power line damaged near Puketapu following the cyclone. Rural communities are among the last to receive power near Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland

Electricity company Unison says it will not reconnect power to homes badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle until they are assessed one by one, as about 2400 properties remain without power in the wider Napier and Hastings region.

As of Tuesday morning, Unison reported there were 2471 properties without power, mainly in rural areas on the outskirts of Napier, or north of Napier.

“We are working hard to restore power to the Hawke’s Bay region, with 94 per cent of all customers reconnected,” a Unison statement posted on its website read.

Unison has restored power to tens of thousands of properties during the past two weeks in the wider Hastings and Napier region, with almost 200 field workers putting in big hours to get residents hooked up.

Unison faultman Dan Johansen working on power lines near Glengarry. Photo / Warren Buckland

Areas that are yet to receive power - since the cyclone on February 14 - include a list of rural communities as well as flood-ravaged locations such as Esk Valley, Dartmoor and Awatoto.

“Where a property has had flood damage ... an electrical inspection is required before the property can be reconnected to the network,” a Unison statement read.

“This is to prevent the risk of harm from electricity or damage to property [such as] an electrical fire.

“Unison, with the help of agreed contractors, is arranging for these inspections to be carried out.”

Unison incident controller Jason Larkin told RNZ on Tuesday they were working hard to get generators set up in rural communities.

“There are areas where it is going to take weeks, if not months, to repair and rebuild the network, but we are doing everything we can to try to bring back power to all our customers as soon as possible,” he said.

“We are looking at options like local generation and are now generating at a number of sites.”

He said a challenge had been getting enough fuel to some generators set up in rural communities, such as Patoka, which is hard to access.

However, he said work was being done to make sure a steady supply of fuel was getting to those generators.

“We really are concerned about these communities that have now been without power for two weeks, and are looking at all available options.”

Unison has a team of about 120 field workers on the ground trying to restore power, and about 60 electricity workers have come in to help from outside the region.

A new temporary depot has been set up in Pandora to support the crews.

- Additional reporting RNZ