Blackout likely caused by shots

Power has been restored to the Far North after a suspected shooting cut electricity to about 32,000 residents.

Bullet casings were found at the base of three damaged pylons yesterday morning, near the heart of the outage.

Transpower spokeswoman Rebecca Wilson said crews found a number of glass insulators had been damaged.

‘‘We suspect, but cannot confirm, the cause of this damage to be malicious. The Northland police have been advised,’’ Wilson said.

‘‘A number of the insulators damaged earlier today have been replaced in a manner to allow power to be restored earlier than the projected 6pm timeframe. Repairs on the remaining insulators will continue into [today].’’

Earlier, the Far North District Council called on all residents connected to water and sewerage to conserve water and to not flush their toilets.

All council offices and libraries were closed for the day and some schools were forced to close.

Some Vodafone customers in the area experienced problems with their cellphones and landlines as their cell towers were out in certain regions.

Spark said its network had some ‘‘localised impacts and mobile network congestion’’.

Far North deputy mayor Tania Mcinnes said the outage would have a serious effect on Far North.

A cruise ship was in port at Kerikeri and the outage would certainly impact on services there, she said.

Northland District Health Board said hospitals in the Far North were running on generators.

Spokeswoman Liz Inch said people on home-based dialysis were ‘‘trained to have back up plans and contingencies’’.

Businesses closed across the region for the day and the financial cost is projected to be substantial.

Two Transpower circuits running into the Northland region were cut about 3.15am yesterday, Wilson said.

It was double bad luck - not only did the main supply cut out, the other circuit which faulted was the backup.

A helicopter and grounds crews reached the site where the fault was located about 8am. - Fairfax NZ