POWER was cut to the Hospital Rd area of Te Kūiti on Thursday after five lines came down when a tree fell through them at Hillview, trapping two contractors in vehicles nearby. It was one of several trees the unusually strong winds brought to the ground around the region.
THE owner of McIndoe Group is praising his team for their actions when five powerlines fell across their site and vehicles last week, trapping two people until the lines could be disconnected. The lines came down when a tree outside Hillview Home on Hospital Rd was uprooted and fell through them in strong winds which battered the King Country on Thursday. Jim McIndoe said he had a good team of men on the ground who kept calm heads in the moment and followed instructions, which included staying put in their vehicles. Both men, one who was stuck in a truck and the other in a digger, were eventually freed and received a check-up at the hospital. Jim said he was grateful for The Lines Company’s quick response to the incident. TLC received word of the outage at 11.20am when a member of the public phoned in the incident, but a line crew who were working at the hospital also heard the line surging and immediately went to the scene to locate the issue. Power was turned off to the area to make the scene safe for the two trapped contractors to leave their vehicles. After branches were trimmed from the fallen tree, the damaged lines were repaired and restrung. The outage also affected several nearby residential properties, and a team of electricians tested every property prior to livening the lines. There was some damage reported to household appliances, electricity meters, and streetlights – with repairs continuing to be undertaken. Power was restored for most customers at 4:02pm, but restoration of power was delayed for 33 customers near the fault because TLC staff had to check each property for electrical damage from the high voltage clash. TLC has said as a gesture of community support it will cover the cost of removing the tree, when usually it would be the responsibility of the tree owner.
