Major power outage hits Timaru

JOHN BISSET/Timaru Herald

TRAFFIC CONTROL: Constable Sam Hawker doing point duty on the Wai-iti Road Selwyn Street intersection after a fire at the Sub Station cut power to Timaru.

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Power has been restored to around half of Timaru's CBD after a fire at a substation caused a major blackout to around 20,000 homes.

The power cut affected an area from the Opihi River to the city's east, as far northwest as Cave and Cannington, including Pleasant Point, and as far south as Otaio, including Pareora and St Andrews.

However power has now been restored to around half of the city centre, as well as Pleasant Point and parts of Washdike.

Alpine Energy said it estimatedthat power should be restored to the majority of its customers by around midday.

A statement from the company said it "apologised for any inconvenience" caused by the outage and assured customers that restoring power was its "top priority".

It is understood the fire, at the Timaru substation on the Old North Road, started at around 5.15am.

There was a cable fault in the Transpower switch room which led to a small explosion.

Firefighters were at the scene just after 7am and the fire has since been put out.

A spokesperson for Timaru Hospital said the hospital had also been affected by the outage and had a generator running.

Some schools and kindergartens in the area had closed.

Traffic lights had also been knocked out throughout the area, with police directing traffic at intersections.

- © Fairfax NZ News