Map of a power outage at Invercargill on Tuesday. Photo: PowerNet
Power is out in Invercargill after a power pole came down south of the city.
A power outage that affected much of Invercargill's central business district has turned out to be a case of fowl play.
The outage occurred at about 9.30am and was restored at about 1.30pm, leaving some businesses without power for several hours.
PowerNet, which managed the network, initially suspected a downed power pole or line was the culprit, but on further inspection discovered a wayward duck was to blame.
"Power has been restored to all customers, as at approximately 1.30pm today [Tuesday]. Our investigation into the cause and repairs have been completed - the outage was caused by a duck flying into power lines," the company said on social media.
The company's website said the outage had affected central suburbs of the city as well as Invercargill Airport and Otatara.
However, Invercargill Airport operations manager Rob Somers said the airport was not affected by the outage. Southland Hospital was also unaffected.
The power cut was patchy with some businesses telling RNZ they were not affected, while their neighbours lost power for about half-an-hour.
A Mersey Street worker said power was out for several hours.
The business seemed to lose power about once a year, the man said.
Invercargill City Council said earlier on Tuesday supply was expected to be restored to all areas by 1pm.
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