Power outages in Hastings as bad weather has impact on Unison's restoration efforts
Unison’s efforts to restore power to properties affected by last week’s Cyclone Gabrielle are being hampered by bad weather, with new power outages being reported in Hastings tonight.
Unison’s progress in restoring power to rural communities in Hawke’s Bay is being impacted by continuing wet weather in the region.
Hawke’s Bay received reports this evening of power outages in Hastings, with Unison’s website confirming the disruption.
Earlier Unision said in a statement that rural restoration plans have been in full swing this week. Following an aerial assessment of the rural network to identify key sites for repair, Unison has met with communities from Waihau, Puketapu, Patoka, Puketitiri, Te Haroto to understand their needs and explore solutions. Customers at Whirinaki and Puketapu were restored, and today a generator was installed in Seafield Road to supply more customers in the Esk and Puketapu areas.
However bad weather has made progress slow.
Unison’s Incident Controller, Jason Larkin says: “Our teams made great progress developing and advancing plans to restore our hard-hit rural communities this week. Unfortunately, the adverse weather forecast is impacting the speed we can progress those plans.”
“As one example, this week we transported a generator to Patoka to bypass damage to the line supplying the substation there, following a herculean effort to move the generator along forestry tracks and across a ford at the Tutaekuri river. The forecast weather, combined with the lack of conventional road access, has cut off access for refuelling and hampered efforts to get crews back in there to get the community reconnected.”
Larkin says that all options are being considered, but the safety of work crews and the community is paramount.
While the weather is holding up rural restoration efforts, Unison crews will continue with repairs in urban and rural areas that are accessible and where conditions are safe, and resume efforts to areas still isolated as soon as is safe.
“While the weather forecast for the region over the weekend may slow progress, our crews are committed to progressing this essential work, despite the challenging conditions. We are throwing all our resources at this mammoth repair and using all options available to restore power as quickly as possible.
“As soon as access and weather allow, we will be visiting more rural communities including Glengarry, Te Pohue, Tutira and Tangoio, to explore how we can restore power to those communities quickly and safely, as well as revisiting Patoka to provide updates on our plans.”
Before the latest outages, there were l 2,789 customers without power in Hawke’s Bay, this afternoon, mostly in outlying rural areas.
“We’re acutely aware of the impact the loss of electricity has on all our communities and the livelihoods of businesses,” says Larkin.
“Over the next few weeks, we are asking the public to be mindful of their power use – we’re not asking businesses to curb their operations, but please think before you flick the switch and turn things off if you’re not using them. Please also prepare for unplanned outages as crews work tirelessly to restore power and supply as quickly as possible.”
