West Auckland powerline explodes, knocking out power to New Lynn for hours

Power has still not restored to parts of the Auckland suburb of New Lynn following an explosion at a power pole on Saturday evening.

Vector says the estimated time for power restoration will be between 2pm and 3pm today.

“Our crew has advised that unfortunately, the work will take longer than expected,” it said in a statement.

It had earlier estimated the power to be restored by 6am Sunday.

Vector said crews are underway resolving the network fault in Gardiner Ave which happened yesterday evening and caused the power to go out for a number of customers in the immediate area.

“We thank those affected for their patience as we work to get the power back on as quickly and safely and we can,” the company said.

“We’d also like to acknowledge that those in the area did the right thing by staying away and alerting us.”

Vector’s advice is for people to stay away from downed power lines or damaged network equipment at all times, and report on 0508 VECTOR.

There were dramatic scenes on Gardner Ave yesterday evening as a power pole exploded, plunging parts of New Lynn into darkness for hours.

Parts of New Lynn hit by the power outage. Photo / Supplied

The explosion happened near the end of Malu Garcia’s driveway around 5pm, and surrounding homes were in complete darkness for hours.

She initially noticed something flickering out of the corner of her eye while in her driveway.

“I at first thought was a lightning rod,” she told the Herald. “It was flickering for around ten minutes.”

“All of a sudden it started to spark even more,” she said. “It was like New Year’s Eve.”

Power pole explosion on Gardner Ave, New Lynn. Photo / Malu Garcia

Eventually, the power pole exploded and the surrounding wire leading towards the houses on the street started to burn.

However, a real danger remained from sparks from the explosion falling on to the nearby wet trees.

Firefighters eventually arrived, but were hamstrung by the live wires on the road.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson confirmed all they could do was set up a safe perimeter and redirect traffic while they waited for Vector to arrive.

Garcia had been concerned about how the lack of power may affect her neighbours during a cold night.

“My house is warm, but the other homes aren’t as warm so I don’t know how they’re going to fare with the blackout.”