Cyclone Gabrielle in Tararua District: Scanpower talks about power cut on February 14, 2023

Peter Rue works with the outage management system at Scanpower. This system allowed then to see where many of the faults were during the cyclone. Photo / Leanne Warr

“We knew it was going to be bad.”

Scanpower network general manager Peter Rue can only reflect on the night Cyclone Gabrielle made its way down the east coast of the North Island.

It was 10pm on February 13, 2023, when the outage management system at Scanpower began showing power outages in the communities of Ormondville and Norsewood.

A lot of the faults had been caused by tree branches coming down and crews were out dealing with the power outages.

Then parts of Ormondville lost power and the crews tried driving down through Bolton Rd, but couldn’t get through for the sheer amount of trees that had come down.

The crew drove back through Dannevirke and down Weber Rd, along Mangahei Rd to get back up.

By the time they had done all they could, it was around 7am, but their way back was blocked by trees and road slips.

“All six entry points at Whetukura were blocked,” Peter says.

Luckily, a farmer near Ormondville was able to help by using a tractor and punching a small hole through so they were able to get out.

The disaster recovery plan had been activated before the cyclone, so we were well prepared going in, he says.

Controllers were co-ordinating all the fault reports and were in constant communication with Tararua Alliance, trying to keep up with the reports of slips and road blockages.

“We were still trying to ascertain where we’ve got customers off from our system, ascertain how to get access as you find out what the issue was,” Peter says.

It was becoming fairly clear that the teams weren’t going to be able to get to every affected customer that day.

A crew was sent to deal with faults in the Waitahora Valley and Totara Rd (near Kumeroa), but they soon realised the rivers were rising.

The call was made to abandon Totara Rd as the river level reached bridges.

More than 300 customers were unable to get power back on that day as a state of emergency was declared.

The crew became trapped by the floodwaters in the Waitahora Valley. Their only way out was by helicopter.

It was decided to park the trucks up somewhere safe for the night and a helicopter was sent out to pick them up, three or four at a time, putting down in Makirikiri Rd.

“We had to essentially abandon that part for the night just because we couldn’t get access through,” Peter says.

Taking stock the next day, Peter went up in the helicopter.

“Jeepers, the damage to the roads,” he says. “I’d never seen anything like it myself.”

Unable to drive due to the damage to roads, an aerial assessment was the only way to see what they were dealing with and form a plan of attack.

Peter was shocked at witnessing the amount of damage caused by the wind and rain.

“Nature’s a lot more powerful than what you realise,” he says reflecting on the fact that no matter how smart we are at building technology, nature still has a way of showing we have a lot to learn.

While it could have been a lot worse in terms of widespread power outages, it was more the response that was made more difficult as crews were impeded by the damage to the roads.

Reflecting on the events of last year, Peter says one of the successes was the local connections, such as Tararua District Council’s emergency management team, Tararua Alliance and Downer, working together to coordinate their response.

Social media was also a good tool to keep people informed of what was going on, he says.

It took several days to restore power to the majority of customers, although some of the more remote areas took a little longer and Peter is quick to assure that the crews were using common sense, especially in the areas hardest hit by the cyclone.

“Hopefully we don’t get another event like it.”