Power slowly being restored in Auckland after blackout

Snow blanketed Leeston, Canterbury, this morning. Picture / Chris Bedford

Power was gradually being restored to Auckland this afternoon after a blackout brought the city to a standstill.

Though power was reported to be finally restored after about four hours at 12.40pm, Auckland City Council said an hour later that 80 per cent of the city was still without electricity.

At 2.45pm, power company Vector said power had been restored to most parts of Auckland except for Penrose, the Eastern Suburbs, Glen Innes, and Otahuhu.

The council changed earlier advice telling people to stay put. It said this afternoon that parents should arrange to collect children from school and employers should send staff home if they were able to in order to avoid rush hour congestion.

It said Vector was predicting all power would be restored by 4.30pm

Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard said questions had to be asked about why the CBD and 700,000 people should lose electricity through one section of power line going out.

"It would be appropriate to ask questions why and whether there is an unreasonable level of vulnerability," he said.

The storm sweeping up the country also brought heavy snow to the South Island. Mid and south Canterbury woke up to the first heavy snowfall of the season.

Schools were closed in Christchurch and Timaru and Christchurch International Airport was closed from about 8.30am.

Auckland City Police mobilised its district emergency management plan and the city council activated its emergency operations centre.

Middlemore and Auckland City hospitals cancelled all surgery and emergency departments were handling urgent cases only. North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals were not affected.

The fire service and lift companies released some people trapped in elevators.

Traffic lights

More than 300 sets of traffic lights were out in central Auckland and a Vector spokeswoman said Manukau was also affected, while police said the power cut stretched to Hamilton. Thousands of homes, businesses and shops were without power.

The blackout stopped trains on the Auckland network. Back-up systems came into operation and allowed limited services to operate, but one passenger, Jon Reeves, told nzherald.co.nz it took him 2 hours to get to work on a journey which usually takes 20 minutes.

A spokesman for Ontrack in Auckland said this morning: "We haven't been able to bring trains into Britomart station. Passengers have been discharged at Newmarket and the Strand and subsequent services have been scheduled to operate to and from there.

"An earlier ... failure on the Western Line, that disrupted services from 6am, was unrelated to the power failure. It has now been repaired."

Strong winds and a high tide were causing the sea to break over the causeway on Tamaki Drive. Some motorists were driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid the waves and traffic was backed up in the morning rush hour.

MetService issued a weather warning this morning saying high winds would affect the whole of the North Island while snow would continue but then ease in Canterbury.

A Vector spokeswoman said the cause of the Auckland blackout was a fault on the Transpower network. She said: "An earth wire has snapped and fallen across the 110 kv feeder from the Otahuhu substation.

"All efforts are focused on restoring power as soon as possible."

Transpower's Chris Roberts said 1000 megawatts of supply had been lost at a time on a winter's morning when close to 2000 megawatts would normally be used.

Transpower presumed the power failure was weather related but could not rule out a maintenance-related problem, he said.

Cellphone coverage was also affected in Auckland.

Police asked people in Auckland to only contact them in emergencies as they were aware of the weather and power situation. They said some drivers were guilty of "lunacy" in the bad conditions, doing U-turns and driving the wrong way.

The fire service said it had received around 50 calls by mid-morning, including some from people trapped in lifts in the Auckland CBD. Fallen trees and powerlines were also causing problems on the roads.

Auckland council said a number of its wastewater pumps were without power and asked people not to wash clothes or dishes and only flush toilets when absolutely necessary.

Mobile telephones should only be used for essential calls, the council said.

High winds caused the closure of Tauranga Airport this morning and a fallen tree closed the northbound lane on SH22 at Pukekohe Golf course.

Severe gales battered the lower North Island overnight bringing down tree braches and power lines on SH5 on the Napier to Taupo road.

Heavy rain is forecast for later today bringing flooding.

An oil spill, heavy rains and gale force winds have also combined to close State Highway 1 between Pukerua Bay and Paraparaumu, 50km north of Wellington.

Central police communications spokesman Chris Turner said roading contractors were attempting to clean the oil spill and debris from the road.

Despite the severe conditions Cook Strait ferry sailings had not been affected and flights in and out of Wellington Airport were still on schedule.

MetService forecaster Cameron Coutts said galeforce winds were expected to batter the country for the most of the morning.

The front would clear the North Island early afternoon and by tonight just showers and winds would be sweeping most of the country, he said.

>> Your experiences of today's storms

MetService weather warning issued at 8.55am this morning:

A rapidly deepening low is forecast to cross central New Zealand around the middle of today, bringing stormy conditions to the North Island, with potentially damaging winds for many parts of the North Island through to this afternoon.

Gusts of 120 to 150 km/h are possible just about anywhere over the North Island, but most especially about higher areas and exposed coastal regions.

A brief burst of heavy rain is also likely about the Tararuas and higher areas of the North Island from Taranaki across the central plateau to the ranges of Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne.

Here, 60 to 100mm of rain is likely to fall during Monday morning or early afternoon.

Heavy snow over South Canterbury should gradually ease this morning and clear this afternoon, with another 5cm likely.

The heavy snow over North Canterbury is expected to persist through to about midday, with another 10 to 15cm likely in places down to near sea level.

The snow should ease in North Canterbury early afternoon and clear by late afternoon.

Heavy snow is also expected to spread into the Kaikoura Coast area, with 10cm of snow likely here down to 200 metres from mid morning through to late afternoon, before clearing this evening.

- HERALD STAFF, NZPA