The impact on the electricity network overnight has been largely as expected, with strong wind gusts of over 150 km/h, and a peak of around 20,000 customers without power overnight. By early morning this number was reduced to around 3500 (in total, Auckland has around 580,000 electricity customers). As the storm continues, and the wind direction shifts and gust speed peaks, we will see further faults driven by the storm conditions, which is leaving more customers without power. The number of customers experiencing outages will keep changing throughout the day.

Vector’s GM Operations and Maintenance Marko Simunac said, “Our crews have worked through the night in some challenging conditions and continue this morning, with additional crews out responding to faults as they happen. Our focus at this stage is to rapidly and safely clear debris from power lines and restore power to customers.

“Sometimes, because of the conditions there may be times when our crews need to stand down for safety reason, such as if strong winds make climbing power poles unsafe.

“The forecasts mean we are anticipating storm conditions to continue through the morning and peak during the day, before easing this afternoon. This means that as we restore the power in some areas, others will be affected and, in some instances customers who have been restored may lose their power again.

“We’d like to thank Aucklanders for their patience and understanding as our teams continue their work to ensure the safety of the electricity network and restore power for customers. We ask the public to please stay well away from downed lines and call 111 if they see any.

“Our crews are working with extra Covid-19 safety precautions in place, such as smaller crew bubbles. This helps keep our crews safe, but it could mean that outages take longer than usual to resolve.”

Vector’s Outage Centre shows current and planned power outages and is accessible at vector.co.nz/outages. People can register their address and sign up for updates via text or email.