Wairarapa storm: The big clean-up

HARD WORK: Bella Glover, 4, on High St in Masterton, pretends to saw up fallen trees on her property. PHOTO/ANDREW BONALLACK

It was a battle to keep Wairarapa towns ticking along as fierce gales battered the region on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Councils, contractors and residents have been trying to get back to normal after the spring storm wreaked havoc all over Wairarapa.

Together with emergency services, they have been dealing with damaged property, power cuts, burst water mains and downed trees and powerlines.

Thousands of homes went without power after severe gales battered Wairarapa on Wednesday night.

Power had been out on Tuesday and was restored but the wind gusts didn't let up, tearing down overhead lines and breaking poles, cutting power once again.

Yesterday, 2200 homes were without power all over the region and linesmen had been brought in from around the country to assist.

Around the whole of the lower North Island, 9000 properties were affected.

About 75 staff were working yesterday to restore power to the people, said Dennis Rose, field manager for Tenix, an alliance partner of Powerco, an electrical distributor.

Normally, there were about 22 staff on to deal with faults.

He said the gales were unprecedented and he had never experienced such strong winds.

Flying debris and trees made it impossible for staff to fix some downed lines but they were making good progress, said Mr Rose.

Power was expected to be back on for most people by the end of yesterday, but because of extensive damage it was likely that a few isolated areas could be without supply for a further day or two.

A chopper was sent out yesterday to get to the most isolated areas.

Plenty of hard work has also been carried out by councils and their contractors in an effort to clean up.

Bus drivers, recycling and rubbish collectors, teachers, treecutters and residents also kept the region working.

Masterton District Council received 35 phone calls yesterday, which was on the high side, said council spokesman Sam Rossiter-Stead.

It had over 50 calls on Wednesday, mainly about fallen trees and signs being blown over, he said.

A tree blocking the entrance to the swing bridge in Queen Elizabeth Park and trees across Mawley Park had to be removed.

Greytown started running out of water on Wednesday after a water main burst on Humphries St and power cuts prevented the emergency bore from working.

City Care contractors worked hard trying to get the town's water back on before morning so people could have their morning coffee and hot showers, said Mark Allingham, Group Manager Infrastructure Services at South Wairarapa District Council (SWDC).

"Our contractors did a great job in getting the pipe fixed to restore water supply into Greytown."

Resident of Greytown and council CEO, Paul Crimp said he was thankful to City Care for their dedication.

Andries Erasmus, City Care operations manager water and waste water, said it was in damage control yesterday morning.

"The weather conditions were atrocious.

"We would have gotten away with just shutting the mains down and leaving it for the changeover today, but with the power off at the Greytown Bore the town started running out of water.

"We got stuck into it and our sub-contractors Pope and Gray did a great job in assisting us to complete this."

Mr Erasmus said crew weren't deterred by downed power lines to get the job done.

"A power line came down in the afternoon cutting the guys off from town as the road was closed off.

"Every time they needed to dump soil or get something, they had to take a detour to and from site."

Mr Allingham said the council had received plenty of phone calls about the power and water out in Greytown.

Yesterday, the council was fielding calls about roads as the Ruamahanga River level rose dangerously high and emergency services cleared trees.

The Waihenga bridge on SH53 was closed because of flooding and there was also flooding on Pahautea Road, about 6km west of Martinborough.

The Wairarapa train service was also delayed yesterday after trees obstructed the train tracks

Powerco reminded people to keep clear of damaged power lines as they are dangerous.