Wild weather power brings lines down

Hundreds of properties in the Rongotea area near Palmerston North were without power on Sunday afternoon as Powerco technicians scrambled to restore electricity to areas affected by strong winds overnight.

The outage affecting 682 Rongotea homes was related to a fault at the Roslyn sub-station feeder.

It was expected to take until about 6pm on Sunday for power to be restored.

Small clusters of residents were without power in Apiti and Ohingaiti on Sunday morning after strong winds buffeted the central North Island.

More than 200 properties near Hunterville lost power about 2.30am, with some still waiting to be reconnected at 1pm on Sunday, and the power went off for 51 homes in Apiti about 4.30am.

Palmerston North residents in Takaro were affected on Sunday afternoon and Powerco reported about 200 Manawatu properties were still without power.

Fire crews were also kept busy responding to incidents where trees were blown over on to power lines early on Sunday morning in Waiouru and Taihape.

In Ratana, a tent blew into power lines and in Mangaweka, a fallen tree blocked the road.

The Fire Service was also asked to respond to weather-related problems around the region throughout Sunday afternoon; at 1.30pm in Hunterville, at 3.30pm in Bulls, at 4.10pm at Himatangi Beach and shortly after, in Levin.

There were also calls for help in Feilding and Foxton.

There were reports of a tree blocking Rongotea Rd outside the village late on Sunday afternoon.

Powerco service delivery manager Dave Hammond said Taranaki suffered the worst of the damage, with falling trees and wind bringing down lines throughout the region.

‘‘Then winds gained intensity on the west coast about 2am, which caused widespread power cuts, mainly in Taranaki, but also Manawatu, Whanganui and Te Puke.’’

A second blast on Sunday afternoon caused further outages in Manawatu, he said.

Crews had battled tough, windy conditions during the day to restore power and were scheduled to work until about 10pm.