Power restored to thousands in Napier
Power has been restored to thousands of residents in urban parts of Napier and outlying areas of Hastings, which have been without power since Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay late on Monday night.
Unison said that since late Friday afternoon power had been restored to more than 6,300 consumers in Hawke’s Bay – nearly 6,000 in Napier and over 400 in Hastings. As of this evening 27,000 consumers remain without power in Hawke’s Bay – approximately 22,500 in Napier and 4,200 in Hastings.
Unison and Transpower worked together to put in place an emergency solution to bypass Transpower' damaged Redclyffe substation and reliven the Whakatu substation, which enabled power to be supplied to parts of Napier City and suburbs last night.
Unison’s Incident Controller, Jason Larkin, says: “Our crews have been working incredibly hard, taking extraordinary measures to undertake very challenging repairs to critical lines between Whakatu and Napier that had been damaged at the river crossing at Awatoto.”
“Getting the power back on for parts of Napier after what has been a very challenging week for so many of our communities was a significant moment for us this week. While we still have some way to go to repair the widespread damage across our network and reconnect all our customers, it is great progress.”
Larkin says that more generators have been brought in as a short-term solution to power critical sites in Napier, such as supermarkets and fuel stations, while repairs take place.
“We recognise how difficult this week has been for everyone and want to thank our communities for their patience and support, and cooperation in reducing power use by those who are connected.”
“As we further progress work on our network and Transpower begins to restore supply to Redclyffe, we will provide more detailed information around expected time of restoration for specific areas.”
Larkin says Unison crews, contractors and those of Transpower are working long hours to restore power as quickly as possible, with many of them also affected by flooding.
“Please stay clear and give them space so they can get on with their jobs quickly and safely.”
Unison also asked the public to please conserve power where possible due to the limited supply of power coming in to the region at present.
“We understand the concerns of our business community and local industries in relation to power supply. Given the limited supply available form Transpower into the region and the unprecedented situation facing our communities we are working closely with Transpower and Civil Defence to allocate the available supply to restore power to critical community infrastructure and households.”
“At this difficult time we must prioritise lives ahead of livelihoods. As more supply is made available from Transpower we will continue this restoration process which will begin to include some commercial and industrial areas. We thank all our customers for their understanding and patience, and the support we continue to receive.”
Unison also advised that fallen or damaged electricity lines should be treated as live at all times.
“Never touch wires or lines lying on the ground, hanging from poles, or objects such as tree branches that may be touching them. Fallen lines or wires may still be carrying an electrical current and could shock, injure or even kill if touched. Unison is urging anyone who sees a power line down to report these to www.unison.co.nz/outages.”
