Following a substantial weather event on July 11, the Waipara River began rising fast, eroding the ground under a MainPower pole. Without urgent attention and intervention, the pole could haven fallen into the river cutting power to approximately 2,300 connections around Amberley and surrounding areas. If this situation were to occur it could take up to 24 hours to restore power, with the requirement for a helicopter to re-string the lines across a river to span a new pole.
The MainPower team quickly established an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to review the situation and decide on a course of action to take. Once the EOC decided on a solution, a five-man field crew was dispatched, along with an external crane operator and 20 tonne digger to install a new pole 15 metres behind the existing pole.
Affected residents were notified via radio, social media and emails to prepare for a power outage. The power to Amberley and some surrounding areas, was switched off just after 7pm. While originally meant to be a 10-hour job, the fantastic team managed to get the power back on before midnight.
