Power cut turns the street into a stage

While a power outage plunged Palmerston North into darkness, a chorus of schoolchildren took to the streets.

A short outage in the city centre cut power to more than 2000 properties late on Wednesday morning.

The blackout sent people pouring out on to the streets, including high school students at The Big Sing regional finals.

A group of Palmerston North Boys’ High School pupils turned the street into their stage, putting on an impromptu performance.

Schools had been performing at the Regent on Broadway when the outage occurred.

Powerco’s website said the power went out at 10.43am on Wednesday, affecting the city suburb of Takaro.

Power was also out at the District Court and shops around the city centre.

The website stated 2319 properties were initially affected. That number had dropped to 1204 properties just after 11am.

The website indicated power had been fully restored just before 11.20am.

The outage was due to an ‘‘equipment failure’’ at the Bunnythorpe substation, a Transpower spokeswoman said.

Palmerston North Boys’ High School rector David Bovey said he was proud of the boys.

‘‘The boys did well; they have a wonderful esprit de corps and enjoyed the opportunity to have a warm-up.’’

Big Sing co-ordinator John Love said the power cut had caused some ‘‘minor chaos’’.

The disruption prompted them to delay the show slightly, but power came back on earlier than expected.

A police spokeswoman said they received reports of traffic lights out on Cuba St and Pitt St. The Palmerston North City Library was also evacuated. See more images from The Big Sing on Page 7.