A linesman working to repair Southland’s stricken power network following severe weather says the past week has been “apocalyptic”.
Around 2200 customers are still without power following a freak storm on October 23, which threw the region into a state of emergency.
PowerNet distribution team leader Rob Wylie is one of those leading the charge to fix that, and said the situation was like nothing he’d seen previously.
“I’ve worked with a lot of guys in various depots that have been here a lot longer than I have, and they’re the same. I don’t think anyone in the company has seen sort of damage like this before.”
Wylie said some staff were working up to 15 hours a day just to complete jobs, but progress was being made and spirits were high.
“It’s day by day. It’s just chipping away now. It’s been a long haul to get where we are, and there’s still a lot to go, but the morale’s up, the teams are all pretty happy you know. Everyone’s giving each other a bit of stick.”
On Friday afternoon, teams were working to restore power at Mitchell Rd in a rural area of Southland, just north of Riverton/Aparima.
Emergency Management has described the restoration as complex because of widespread damage, and Wylie said there were challenges such as water pooling on the sides of roads — areas where they tended to operate.
The work itself was similar to day-to-day operations except now it was all happening at once, Wylie said.
A key focus was getting high voltage feeders back in, which he described as the main arteries coming down the road which fed multiple transformers into people’s houses.
“Once you get them on you can start livening up sort of communities and areas, as opposed to just focusing on individual properties.”
People experiencing outages are encouraged to report them through PowerNet’s Facebook page/online form, or by calling 0800 808 587.
Southland remains under a state of emergency, which was extended on Thursday night by district mayor Rob Scott.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
