Cyclone Gabrielle continues to impact Powerco customers with outage numbers rising - 7am update

Powerco field crews will be out again today working to reconnect customers who were off overnight as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle.

As of 6am this morning 38,089 customers are without power, with the Thames/Coromandel area hardest hit with 15,497 customers currently off.

48,705 customers have been impacted by the storm over the last 24 hours. 

Most of the outages have been caused by high winds and trees bringing down lines, and reconnection efforts were hampered on Monday by the ongoing severe weather conditions as well as access issues meaning crews were unable to reach fault sites.

It’s expected that flooding, slips and road closures will continue to be an issue for crews trying to reach fault sites in the Coromandel today.

This morning a helicopter is on standby to help crews assess lines around the Coromandel, however flights are dependent on conditions easing.

With Cyclone Gabrielle moving down the North Island, outages in Bay of Plenty, South Waikato and Taranaki also occurred overnight and early this morning. There are currently 10,781 customers out in Taranaki and 3,602 without power in Bay of Plenty.

While all available crews will be reconnecting customers wherever possible, conditions remain challenging, and safety remains the top priority.

Powerco thanks customers for their patience, and asks customers to continue to be kind and respectful to hardworking crews.

Up-to-date information on current outages are available on Powerco’s outages map here: https://www.powerco.co.nz/outages

A summary of outages by region:

• Coromandel – 15,497 customers
• Taranaki – 10,781 customers
• South Waikato – 7,053 customers
• Bay of Plenty – 3,602 customers
• Manawatū – 820 customers
• Wairarapa – 272
• Whanganui – 64

Field crews reconnecting customers in Whangamatā Monday afternoon