Lines crews expected to start preliminary work on restoring power to Northland soon

Scenes like these are hampering efforts by lines companies Northpower and Top Energy to restore power. Photo / Northpower

Andrea Mowat and her partner will have to take their frozen stuff to a bed and breakfast they own and have a shower there while waiting for power to come back on in their house.

The couple, on Te Wahapu Rd in Russell, are among the more than 35,000 Northlanders who have been without power since last weekend as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“Power was surging on Sunday evening and then went out. It came back on for only about five minutes on Monday evening. It’s the worst storm I’ve seen in my 30 years here,” Mowat said.

The couple plan to take their perishable goods to their Airbnb at Okiato today if their guests leave. Mowat has a gas cooker, but hasn’t showered since Sunday. Their water comes through on a pressure pump, and they managed to fill up buckets they use to flush the toilet.

Crews from Northpower and Top Energy are likely to start preliminary assessment of damage to power poles and lines across Northland soon, but warn tens of thousands of households and businesses will still be without power for much of this week.

Just over 26,361 people were affected on the Northpower network in Whangārei and Kaipara, and a further 9895 in the Far North district as of 4pm yesterday.

Northpower said although the company has extensive construction capability and a high number of crews available, the extensive nature of the damage meant it was likely to take up to a week to rebuild core aspects of the network.

For those outside Ruakākā, Langs Beach, Waipū, Ruawai town and surrounding areas Poroti, Hikurangi, Ngunguru and Tūtūkākā, power will be progressively restored over the next week.

Maintenance crews are out scoping the extent of new damage and reconfiguring the network to minimise outage areas, and carrying out repairs where possible.

In Ruakākā, Waipū and Langs Beach, both high-voltage lines that supply the Ruakākā substation have had multiple pole failures. Flooding in the area is also preventing access and impacting pole foundations. The repairs include complex construction work which may take up to a week.

The substation and multiple poles are down in Ruawai town and surrounding areas.

Northpower has told those in Poroti to prepare for an outage of several days, as pole damage repairs will be prioritised once weather conditions allow.

Flooding is making access impossible in Hikurangi, and households are being asked to prepare for an outage of more than a week.

Power to about 1500 homes and businesses in Ngunguru and parts of Tūtūkākā had been restored by 9am yesterday, but they may experience periodic interruptions.

In the Far North district, Top Energy is having similar problems to Northpower in terms of accessing the downed power poles and lines.

“Never before have we dealt with such a fluid and dynamic range of outages on our network in such a short period of time,” Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said.

Fatigue of staff was a concern, and additional support crews from Dannevirke electricity distribution company Scanpower and Northpower in the central region have been stranded south of Whangārei due to the flooding, he said.

“People using medical equipment that relies on electricity should let their retailer know if they are without power. If there is an immediate health threat, they should contact their health provider or call 111.”