Aucklanders warned strong Easter winds could bring power cuts

Auckland residents were being warned a powerful storm could hit the city this Easter Sunday and Monday with the potential to bring power disruptions.

Power supplier Vector said the storm was expected to bring strong winds at a time when it had smaller work crews because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"What this means for our customers is that we will be operating with smaller teams but we will have more of them to reduce the impact of the changes we have needed to make," head of capital programme delivery Minoru Frederiksens said.

"It's possible that it could take longer to get power back if there are outages due to the forecast bad weather this weekend."

MetService has forecast the Easter weekend to kick off with reasonably fine weather and highs of 20C and 21C on Friday and Saturday before rougher weather on Sunday and Monday.

Residents should be ready for winds to pick up on Sunday before a stronger potentially gale force winds hit with periods of rain on Monday.

"There is low confidence of severe westerly gales about Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato on Monday," the forecaster said.

Vector said it was monitoring the meteorological advice.

Frederiksens said Vector's electricity network was considered an essential service.

"We are acutely aware that our customers are confined to their homes and whether working from home or not, any outage will add to the stress of the Covid-19 lockdown," he said.

Because of the lockdown, Vector's response to outages would operate differently.

"Our field crews are now working in smaller teams, and they have been split into groups that do not mix to contain any potential coronavirus infection," he said.

"We are also following strict social distancing protocols, including in relation to interacting with members of the public.

"We recognise that it's also different for the public who can't break their bubbles and go to friends or families if they have a prolonged outage."

He said that while Vector would have smaller crews, there would be more of them and they would be working "extremely hard" to restore any outages.

Frederiksens also asked Auckland residents to prepare for the possible storm and power cuts by following the steps listed below and ensuring "their devices and power banks are fully charged today".

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO BE PREPARED

* Always stay away from fallen power lines or damage electrical equipment. Now more than ever we don't want to create problems for other essential services such as Fire and Emergency.

* Watch out for falling tree branches as these can cause damage to power lines.

* Avoid possible damage to electrical appliances (in the unlikely event there is a power surge when the power is restored) by switching off appliances at the wall.

* Keep a torch and spare batteries handy and ensure that you have at least one telephone that does not rely on electricity for operation.

* Ensure that an alternate fuel is always available for cooking (such as gas for barbecue).

* If you have an electric garage door, prepare how you can gain entry to the garage another way so you have access to your vehicle.

* Tie down objects on your property that may be impacted by strong winds (such as, trampolines, barbecues and BBQ covers). We don't want people to break their bubbles to retrieve property.

* If you are on tank water please ensure you have plenty of bottled water available.
If life or property is at risk, call 111.

* Do not to approach our teams for their safety and remember physical distancing of two metres. Our crews have been advised to remind the public of physical distancing rules if they are feeling unsafe.