Car hits power pole north of Whanganui near Waitōtara

Power was cut to nearly 250 properties when a vehicle crashed into a power pole on the corner of State Highway 3 and Pākaraka Rd around 6pm on Monday.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesperson said the car rolled and a power pole fell across the road.

No one needed to be extracted from a vehicle.

“We provided scene protection and traffic control.”

A total of 249 customers experienced a power outage as a result of the accident, a Powerco spokesperson said.

“A field crew was dispatched to make the site safe and to carry out temporary repairs in order to reconnect customers.”

By 7pm, 132 customers were reconnected and the remaining 117 were reconnected by 10.42pm.

“Crews will be returning to the site to replace two poles damaged in the incident.”

A police spokesperson said the sole occupant of the vehicle was not reported to be injured.

“There was traffic management on the road for a short period as powerlines were down.”

St John was not required.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.