‘Driving force for me’: Tireless electricity workers help flood-stricken communities

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

When electricity worker Dan Johansen heads out each morning for another 12 to 16-hour day restoring people’s power, he passes by severe flood damage in his own community of Puketapu.

Seeing that damage and wanting to help flood-stricken communities is what has kept the Unison faultman working tirelessly over the past two weeks.

Almost 200 electricity workers just like Johansen have become the unsung heroes of Cyclone Gabrielle - restoring power to tens of thousands of people around Napier and Hastings districts, often well ahead of schedule.

Johansen said it had been great seeing people’s reactions when their power was switched back on.

“Every day has [involved] getting more and more customers on, so it’s been really good,” he said.

“People are being told it can be weeks before they will be getting power, and we are rocking up and getting power on miles [faster] than they thought.

Unison's Dan Johansen has been working hard to help people in need of power. Photo / Warren Buckland

“That is only because we are doing the hours and everyone is chipping in to get it done.”

Johansen said his own home was not damaged by the floods, but neighbours across the street in Puketapu had been severely flooded.

“When I looked around at people that I knew in my community who lost everything - their livelihoods, their houses - that was a driving force for me to keep going, and I’m super proud [of our work].”

He said it had been hard leaving his young family each day to work long hours, including being cut off from his family for two days immediately after the floods.

However, he said his partner had been absolutely amazing with their children and the support from the wider Puketapu community had been fantastic.

He said a special moment happened last Monday night when Unison workers came down from Rotorua to help him bypass power from Park Island to Puketapu village.

Johansen working on power lines. Photo / Warren Buckland

After working late into the night, power was able to be switched back on to the village.

If that bypass was not done, it would have taken weeks to get power back to Puketapu village.

“The next day, power went on [around Puketapu],” he said.

“That was pretty special. We had a community meeting on that Tuesday and I said a few words.”

Johansen said he had received a lot of toots and waves from people appreciative of their work over the past two weeks around the region.

Johansen has only had one day off during the past two weeks, but said he had wanted to help and do the work.

He said Unison had been fantastic in monitoring workers and making sure people were taking time off where needed.

He said the Unison team had also been making sure everything was done safely and professionally on every job.

As of the weekend, Unison reported there were over 2500 properties still without power, mainly in rural areas outside of Napier such as Puketitiri, Rissington and Glengarry.

Workers were busy getting power hooked up through a generator to Glengarry Rd on Monday.

Unison has about 120 field workers restoring power in the region across a range of roles, while a further 60 have come in to help from outside the region.

Johansen said the control and administration teams had been doing well at planning and prioritising jobs for field workers.