Wind gusts of 90km/h in Whanganui, 930 homes lose power

Wild weather overnight caused power outages to 930 customers in the Whanganui area. Photo / NZME

High winds and rain overnight have caused power outages in the Whanganui District.

By 8am on Thursday, 148 properties in Whanganui were still without power.

According to Powerco, more than 13% of its 1114 outages were in Whanganui.

In total, 930 Powerco customers were without power in the Whanganui area in the early morning.

The largest outages were in Paparangi, with 87 properties affected, and Okoia, 41 properties. Smaller outages were scattered throughout Waitōtara, Whangaehu and Westmere.

Powerco was unable to confirm that the weather was the cause of all the outages, but said it was likely.

Watches and orange warnings were issued on Wednesday night for wind and rain in parts of inland Whanganui, Ruapehu and South Taranaki.

All watches and warnings for those areas were lifted on Thursday morning.

MetService meteorologist Michael Pawley said although the mean wind speed in Whanganui was about 45km/h, gusts were reaching up to 90km/h.

Pawley expected that thunderstorms would ease as the weather system moved east, but Whanganui was still in store for a cold and showery weekend.

Powerco said if people saw downed powerlines, they should stay at least 10m away from the lines and poles, and immediately call 111 or Powerco’s emergency number, 0800 27 27 27.

If customers experienced an outage, they were advised to report it by contacting their retailer or using the report an outage form on Powerco’s website.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.