Auckland floods: Fewer than 100 power outages across region, down from 3000

Fewer than 100 homes and businesses are without power across Tāmaki Makaurau following the region’s latest deluge, down from 3000 earlier on Wednesday.

Vector said crews have made good progress throughout the day restoring power to most affected residents (separate to those on Kawau Island), and expected those still without power will be back up and running later in the day.

Auckland was once again hit by high winds and heavy rain on Tuesday night, which impacted the electricity network – causing “widespread” outages across the north, east and west of Auckland.

Of the outages recorded overnight, most were a result of unstable ground conditions causing “severe” landslips and trees to fall.

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On Tuesday night, one Vector crew was stood down for a couple of hours as the conditions were too dangerous to work in. Trees were continuing to fall near the site they were working at.

Crews have been on-site at Kawau Island doing preparatory work, and a helicopter will be dispatched to the island on Thursday with equipment and to help with repairs.

On Tuesday, about 247 properties on Kawau Island were without power.

Vector had been working with Civil Defence regarding the welfare of those on the island, it said on Wednesday morning.

Shortly before 4pm, a Chorus spokesperson confirmed mains power had just been restored to a cabinet in Titirangi, which had seen a number of households close to the Waitākere Ranges without internet and/or power since Friday.

However, individual line terminal cards in the cabinet were damaged during the course of the “unprecedented weather event” and needed replacing.

Technicians were on-site installing new cards on Wednesday afternoon.

It was expected copper and fibre broadband in affected areas south of Titirangi would be restored to households within 6-12 hours.

Swathes of Northland were earlier affected by an internet outage, including Pawarenga, Panguru, Mitimiti and Broadwood, after two fibre cables were damaged overnight in a “significant” landslip.

The slip – about 8km south of Kaitaia – caused outages for a number of Far North communities, but internet had been restored as of 4pm.

Among the areas affected by heavy rainfall in the early hours of Wednesday, the central city received 100mm of rain, Watercare said.

Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne said “thankfully”, Auckland’s water and wastewater infrastructure “coped relatively well” with Tuesday night’s heavy rain and wind, with no new major storm-related water outages.

In contrast to Friday, when 10 wastewater pump stations were flooded and stopped working, all were operational on Wednesday.

Bourne believed fewer than 100 customers in West Auckland affected by Friday’s floods did not have water on Wednesday morning.

“If there are further water main breaks today across the city, our crews will expect to restore service to affected customers within five hours, in line with our normal procedures.”

Meanwhile, Bourne said Watercare was receiving reports of wastewater overflows across the city.

Parts of the central city recorded 100mm of rain overnight, which inundated parts of the wastewater network, causing “a number” of overflows.

“Our crews will be heading out to clean-up as soon as these overflows have stopped, however it may still take a few days to get through them all.”

Tap water remains safe to drink.