Lightning causes power cuts

Tyre fitters Deon Macken and Cam Morgan were blinded by the lightning strike across the road, while a light in the workshop that hadn't worked in six years started working after the strike. Photo / John Stone

Lightning clusters - one of which struck Whangarei police station - travelled across Northland, leaving 22,626 Northpower customers without power for just under a minute and 32,000 Top Energy customers without power for nearly an hour.

The strikes - over 200 across Northland between 10am and 1pm yesterday - also disrupted power to Whangarei rail crossings, causing barrier arms to drop and lights and bells to go off.

Staff at tyre shop Bridgestone Select on Clyde St witnessed fork lightning strike the rod on top of Whangarei police station at around 12.30pm, describing it as a blinding white light followed by a huge crack.

"The whole shop lit up white," support manager Deon Macken said.

'The noise was incredible. It was a really loud crack. I certainly got a bit of a crouch going on."

He thought one of the workshop lights had exploded and was surprised to find a light that hadn't worked in six years started working after the strike.

The only sign of the strike at the station was the power briefly flickering out, Whangarei senior sergeant Steve Dixon said.

"Some people in the street said we'd been hit by lightning. We never stopped - it didn't affect us at all."

A dual lightning strike at the Kensington substation left 22,626 Northpower customers without power for just under a minute at around 12.20pm yesterday, and proceedings were delayed for about 10 minutes during a murder trial in the High Court at Whangarei after a power disruption.

The Parua Bay substation was hit at around 1.43pm, affecting 550 homes for around 30 minutes.

Lightning also took out the two Transpower lines between Maungatapere and Kaikohe - which feed the whole of the Far North - soon before midday yesterday, leaving 32,000 Top Energy customers without power for nearly an hour. Kerikeri senior sergeant Peter Robinson said the power blackout had caused no policing issues.

The strikes also caused electrical problems to rail crossing signals in Whangarei, KiwiRail communications advisor Becs Saxton said.

The barrier arms at the Kamo Road, and lights and bells at the Kensington Avenue levels crossings were activated, and at 3.50pm KiwiRail staff were en route to complete repairs, she said.

Metservice meteorologist John Law said there were around 200 lightning strikes between 10am and 1pm, which is "perfectly normal".

Today's forecast includes showers early on in the day, with south-westerly winds easing as the day goes on, he said.