Powerful winds, thunderstorms and heavy rain across the Auckland region until approximately midday today (Monday 21 March).

With New Zealand now in the Covid-19 Red Light setting, following the arrival of the Omicron variant, Vector had cautiously begun addressing the backlog of planned maintenance and repairs, including new housing connections that had been deferred during the past lockdowns.

Since Saturday night when the first front of Cyclone Dovi hit Auckland, Vector crews have worked day and night across the region to make the electricity network safe and restore power, after the cyclone caused extensive damage.

The storm conditions from Cyclone Dovi eased yesterday evening and since then our crews have continued to work through the night and this morning to make the electricity network safe and restore power.

Cyclone Dovi has brought extremely challenging weather conditions, with a storm on two fronts and wind gusts of over 150 km/h, which has led to widespread power outages across nearly every part of Auckland.

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