12/03/2017
Updates and Glen Eden outage - flooded substation

Serious rain out west this afternoon has also flooded our substation on Waikaukau Road (image below). This is causing an outage to 2,800 households in Glen Eden and surrounding suburbs. We have crew on site to determine if we can shuffle supply to these areas (back feed) in the meantime given the severity of flooding. Earlier we also had lines down in a few locations, including Sunnyvale which caused an outage to 1,300 but has been resolved. 

Crews continue working on various repairs across Auckland and we’re keeping an eye on the weather as winds were expected to pick up.

12 households are also without power in Grey Lynn as well as a neighbourhood in Kawakawa Bay following Wednesday’s downpour with blocked roads.


Flooded substation on Waikaukau Road causing an outage in Glen Eden and surrounding areas

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11/03/2017 Afternoon update

Crews have been working throughout the day to restore power to affected areas. 

A tree damaged power lines in Titirangi today, causing an area outage. Power to all affected households was restored by 3:40pm.  

A tree fell down across Ashton Road, damaging power poles and bringing down lines. 


Large tree across Ashton Road causing damage to power poles and lines.

Current outages are listed below - see our outage map for the latest outage information.

• Kawakawa Bay coast Rd, Kawakawa Bay - 16 households

• Ashton Road, Whangateau , Auckland - 16 households

• Old Kaipara Road, Kaipara, Warkworth - 30 households

• Church Bay Road, Waiheke Island, Auckland - 30 households

• Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland – 4 households

We're keeping an eye on weather conditions overnight and into Sunday; high winds have been forecast, which may bring down trees with roots disturbed by the rain and slips. Vector reminds people to stay well away from downed power lines and to report them immediately.

Crews will continue to work through the night and into tomorrow, as long as it remains safe to do so. 

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11/03/2017 Morning update

Overall, crews have had a steady night working on electricity outages with great progress made in wet conditions. We've repaired a good amount of weather-related network damage but continue to receive new reports of issues like power lines down. Please stay away from any downed lines and report it via 0508 VECTOR.

Restoration times for all outages are on track with the exception of the Kawakawa Bay fault as there are landslips and a major road closure around the whole area.

We currently have outages in Western Springs and Titirangi from tree damage, with smaller outages in Northcote, Warkworth, Herne Bay, and Kawakawa Bay. This will change as more weather-related damage is reported and encourage people to see our outage map for the latest outage information.

Crews have been on rotation around the clock since Wednesday and we're keeping an eye on weather conditions with plans in place if conditions deteriorate.

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09/03/2017
Afternoon Update

We're aiming to have Clevedon and about half of Kawakawa Bay residents restored this evening as we make our way around the coast. However it's likely we will be working right through tomorrow to repair damage and restore power to at least 30 households in this area. We are working with Civil Defence to make sure residents have appropriate plans in place.

We have restored some power in flooded areas but there are still about 70 households without power. The road blockages from slips and flooding is making it difficult to access sites and there are a number of power poles needing replaced, having come loose with slippages and wet earth. 

Crews have found ways to get around parts of the area as flooding on Twilight Road has eased up. However we're working with Civil Defence to clear up major blockages stopping us getting to the rest of the sites we need to repair. Our helicopter survey gave us a good idea of what we are dealing with. As an example, there are a number of poles and electric feeders we need to get to along the Kawakawa Coast but will need to dig through tonnes of slip debris in a number of spots. Our teams came across a resident whose driveway was totally demolished by a slip, cutting off his house from the road. 

You can see more images on our Facebook album

Elsewhere we are experiencing secondary damage from the heavy weather particularly, with gusts picking up. Most outages are small area faults that can be fixed switftly. Heavy rain and wind is expeted to continue overnight.

Check our outage map for updates or phone 0508 VECTOR and use the keypad menu to select the area you want information about.

Safety reminder
We've had a reports of members of the public trying to clear debris from power lines, thinking they were deenergised. Please stay well away from downed lines and report them immediately via 0800 VECTOR.

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09/03/2017 Morning Update

Our crews worked through the night making great progress to resolve most outages from yesterday’s downpour. There were a few more, smaller faults that came up but all have been resolved, including repairs to a zone sub needing a lot of work on surrounding bamboo.

About 110 households are still affected by outages, these are in the Clevedon, Kawakawa Bay, and Whitford area. We haven’t been able to access these areas due to heavy flooding and slippages but a helicopter was sent out yesterday afternoon to survey the damage. Depending on road closures and weather conditions, we are aiming to get most of these residents back up and running after lunch. 

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08/03/2017 Evening Update

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Extensive flooding in south-east Auckland
Due to extensive flooding and slipping crews are currently unable to access damage causing outages in Whitford, parts of Takanini and Papakura, Clevedon and Kawakawa Bay. It is unsafe for crews to enter or work in the flooded area and critical roads are offically closed until at least 10pm tonight. We will reassess the situation after then. It's unlikely many of these residents will have power restored overnight and we are working with police to disperse that message into the community. In the meantime we're looking into options to survey the network situation out there, including aerial via helicopter. Keep updated via our outage map at https://www.vector.co.nz/personal/outages.

Please be careful
We're reminding people to drive to the conditions as we have crew dealing with two separate car v poles in Papatoetoe, one initially affecting 1,500 households in Manukau. As normal with weather like this, we will continue to receive reports of secondary and new damage. Stay away from downed lines and leaning power poles. Report damage and outages by phoning 0508 VECTOR.

View the extent of the flooding here:
Video by Kevz 110 on Youtube

Police car swept away by flooding in south east Auckland
Extensive flooding at the Auckland Polo Club in Clevedon
Heavy rain causes floods, power cuts around Auckland