Substation explodes cutting power

An explosion at electricity substation in central Wanganui has caused a fire and power cuts to most of the city, the Fire Service said today.

A spokeswoman said the explosion happened about 12.50pm today. There had been no reports of injury.

The spokeswoman said four fire appliances were at the scene trying to control the fire.

"The blaze isn't particularly high, but of course it is dangerous if the sub-station itself actually blows," she said.

The substation is next to the Wanganui River, and has a number of businesses surrounding it, including the Waimarie River Boat.

The spokeswoman said at this stage nobody had been evacuated from the area.

It was unknown what the cause of the explosion was.

Yesterday a similar incident in Christchurch saw power cuts across the central business area.

Electrical engineers worked through the night to repair a faulty substation that paralysed the city for an hour last night.

Power was cut to a large part of the central business district about 5.20pm, affecting hotels, shops, restaurants, eftpos transactions, bank machines and traffic lights.

Fire crews had to rescue some people who had been trapped in lifts and movie-goers and bar patrons had to leave central city venues.

Water from a nearby building had leaked through the substation roof, short-circuiting cables and causing the outage.

- NZPA