Forestry mishap cuts power to hundreds in rural areas south of Rotorua

Unison workers. Photo / File

Tree felling south of Rotorua has damaged a power line cutting power to hundreds in rural areas this morning.

Unison spokesman Danny Gough said forestry contractors were felling trees on a forestry block off State Highway 5 when the damaged happened about 8.20am.

"A forestry contractor doing some harvesting unfortunately had a branch impact the lines while a tree was coming down. It has caused a bit of damage to the cross arms where the lines are supported."

Gough said the pole itself didn't come down.

The power outage affected about 1200 customers immediately with Unison contractors progressively able to restore most of them this morning.

"We now have 27 still off and they should be back on by 12.30pm," Gough said.

The areas affected included Reporoa, Rerewhakaaitu and Ngakuru.