Massive job to replace broken power poles after storm

1.00pm

The northern Manawatu hills will be alive with the sound of helicopter rotors today as new power poles are ferried in to replace more than 30 snapped in Wednesday's killer storm.

A Wairarapa postie died in the storm which caused widespread damage across the lower North Island, bringing planes, trains and ferries to a halt and damaging roads and properties, rendering some inhabitable.

Today, all efforts would be made to restore power to those struggling without it since early on Wednesday.

About 2200 customers were without electricity in the Feilding and Taihape regions after a power pylon toppled over in floodwaters.

A spokesman for Powerco, Jonathan Hill, said workers would be installing poles and lines in the Taihape hill country where about 1000 people have been without electricity for 1-1/2 nights.

"They're working flat out all day, it's all hands on deck. It is really hard manual work in terms of getting poles to the region and re-stringing the lines."

Mr Hill said the weather forecast was good which would help efforts.

"The lines are all cross country up there and it's difficult to get vehicles up there so it's all helicopter work today."

About 60 workers were being called in to help.

"It's all manual work putting in new poles and new wires so staff are being bought into to help with the operation from outside the area."

Six helicopters were being used with possibly more being called in to bring in poles to replaces those broken in the storm.

Mr Hill said most homes would have power by the end of the day.

While life was tough for those without electricity it was even worse for those whose homes were so badly damaged by the storm they were uninhabitable.

In the Hutt valley 10 homes suffered flood damage and a further 10 had structural damaged caused by slips. Hutt City Council civil defence emergency manager Paul Nickalls said most of the homes were repairable in the long-term and at this stage only one had been condemned.

Several homes in Porirua were also evacuated in the storm with three too dangerous to live in because of damage from slips.

Damage to council-owned infrastructure throughout the region could run into millions of dollars, while the Insurance Council said it would be Monday at the earliest before it could count the cost of damage to private property.

Most roads had reopened but a diversion remained in place as the Napier-Taihape road was closed by snow.

Farmers throughout the region have reported heavy stock losses, mainly newborn calves and lambs. Federated Farmers has reopened its rural recovery hot-line number, 0800 335 663, to help farmers affected by this week's storms.

Some people affected by power outages around Taihape were also without telephones.

Telecom spokeswoman Sarah Berry said about 100 customers around Taihape were affected by the power failure.

There had also been problems with cellphones after transmission dishes were blown out of position but most were now back on.

There were individual customers in some areas without phones because of localised damage.

Meanwhile the Moutoa floodgates on the Foxton-Shannon road were closed by 6am today.

Horizons Operations Manager Allan Cook said they were opened for as long as necessary to provide relief from floodwaters on the lower Manawatu River system.

The Manawatu River level at 6.45am was 3.2m from its peak of 7.5m at 2pm yesterday.

As river levels reduce to normal flows, Horizons staff will be inspecting the area to look for any damage to the river schemes.

Meanwhile, the body of the storm's only fatality, Wairarapa postie Erlinda Warrington, was found near Bideford, northeast of Masterton, yesterday. Ms Warrington went missing driving to Masterton early Wednesday morning.

- NZPA