Power restored as next storm brews

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The last of the North Island properties blacked out by last weekend's snow storm are expected to have power restored today as another storm brews.

About 455 properties across rural Hawke's Bay and Taupo lost power on Sunday after powerlines were brought down by unseasonal heavy snow.

Power company Unison said today it had scrambled to reconnect customers and about half a dozen around the Tarawera area remained without power this morning.

"We've only got a small handful now of remote, rural high country-type properties, and that also includes supplies to woolsheds etc," customer relations manager Danny Gough told NZPA.

"But all the guys were up there early this morning, so we're confident we'll have those on earlier rather than later today."

Meanwhile, the MetService has issued a severe weather watch for the area, saying more snow was expected for Friday night and Saturday morning.

Forecasters said there was considerable uncertainty about which areas would receive the heaviest falls and how low the snow would go, but said the snowfalls were likely to affect many roads in the central North Island.

Mr Gough said Unison was keeping a close eye on the forecasts, but there was not much they could do to prevent power being cut by the storm.

"What we do is make sure we have all guys ready to go again. All the equipment will be checked after this lot," he said.

"The only good thing is that we've managed to get rid of a lot of trees now. A lot of the trees already came down in the first storm, so that caused a lot of mayhem, so we're hoping that we'll have a bigger corridor between the lines and the trees now."

Roading authorities were also keeping a close eye on the forecasts after last week's storm stranded 700 travellers on the Desert Road and the Napier-Taupo Highway.

The cold weather wiped out hundreds of newborn lambs and farmers have been urged to move stock to lower levels or to ensure lambs, and their mothers, have access to shelter this weekend.

Weather in the South Island is also being watched after a severe weather warning was issued for Marlborough and Canterbury.

Heavy snow was expected in both areas on Friday, and roads, in particular Lewis Pass, Porter's Pass and Arthur's Pass, were likely to be affected.

- NZPA