5000 still without power; outages could last till weekend

Some people in the storm-hit lower South Island could still be without power heading into the weekend.

Supplies are gradually being restored after last week's severe winds but more than 5000 properties in the South remain without electricity.

PowerNet Chief Executive Paul Blue said as at noon today, about 3400 customers in Southland and 1674 customers in Otago remained without power.

Blue said crews from around the country had been supporting his teams as they dealt with the damage.

“The support provided by our industry peers has been incredible. We are grateful for their help repairing the extensive damage our networks have suffered.

“Our suppliers and contractor partners are also playing a huge part, with supplies of equipment being sourced from throughout New Zealand and freighted urgently to us.

He said they appreciated that it had been a long time for those still without power.

“Our focus has been on ensuring critical services are powered, large urban areas and the region’s dairy farms.

“Some of the areas still to be restored do have extensive damage, but we also know there are likely to be many individual properties who have suffered more localised damaged and are still without power. Until this stage, we have asked them to be patient and not report these individual issues.”

Blue said while the restoration of power throughout Otago and Southland was tracking well, the response was likely to have a long tail.

“We’ve largely reconnected our biggest areas of customers, but we have some very complex and widespread issues affecting many of those remaining. We will have a much better understanding by Friday of exactly how long those people can expect to wait for their power to be restored.”

Emergency Management Southland said about 30 generators were being circulated in the community to support critical infrastructure, dairy sheds and community hubs.

Invercargill's Mitre 10 manager Tracy Key said the store had stocked up on more than 200 generators over the weekend knowing the demand would be huge, and they had been flying off the shelves.

"It was nice to put some smiles on faces for sure. There are some people who were a wee bit teary when you said how's it been for you, and you can certainly see the emotional drain that it has taken," she said.

A state of emergency remains in place in Southland and Clutha, and a boil water notice is in place for most of the Clutha district.

 - Allied Media/RNZ