Downed power lines force another road closure

The crash scene after a car hit a pole beside State Highway 50 south of Fernhill on Friday afternoon. Photo / Supplied

Hawke’s Bay’s run of road closures took another hit with power lines brought down by a mid-afternoon Friday crash on a busy road between Napier and Hastings.

State Highway 50 was closed between the intersections of Omahu Rd, Hastings, and Taihape Rd at Omahu, just north of the Ngaruroro River’s Fernhill Bridge.

The crash happened a short while before 3.30pm when a car hit a pole.

While power lines initially draped over the vehicle no injuries were reported, said police, who had expected a one-and-a-half hour road closure for the lines reinstatement.

Unison Networks customer relationships manager Danny Gough said supply had been cut to 735 consumer sites initially, with 24 still to have supply restored two hours later.

Taihape Rd was among the dozens closed in Hawke’s Bay as ex-Cyclone Hale caused hundreds of slips and flooding across wide areas of the North Island earlier in the week.

Most Hastings District Council roads had been reopened by early afternoon on Friday, with Flag Range Rd, Sherenden, expected to be cleared by evening.

National highways management agency Waka Kotahi NZTA was continuing to warnings of speed restrictions at the sites of multiple slips which closed State Highway 2 between Tangoio and Tutira on Wednesday and Thursday.