A street light in Dunedin folded on to its lamp post in high winds early yesterday, shorting out a conductor and cutting power to 500 homes in Andersons Bay and Tomahawk.
That cut came as winds across Otago whipped power lines on the national grid, resulting in what owner TransPower said were six occurrences of ''voltage excursions'', where lines running from dams are blown close to each other, momentarily tripping the circuit.
That caused flickering lights across the South.
Delta operations manager John Campbell said power was cut about 5.30am yesterday.
Delta was alerted by a member of the public, who saw ''flashing'' on a pole near the corner of Tomahawk and Tahuna Rds, a call he said he appreciated.
''We were able to get on to it quickly.''
Crews found the light attached to the top of the pole had bent on to a conductor.
Tomahawk residents were wrapped up for what they said was a cold start to the day.
Neville Tyson, of Tomahawk Rd, said he had heating from a fire, but was considering heading out for breakfast.
Transpower said its major 220kv lines were affected by the high winds, going out of service, then ''straight back in''.
''There would have been no loss of supply [from that problem] - people would not have lost their power - but they would have seen what we call a voltage excursion, a flickering of light, or a temporary blip on the system,'' a spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said the lines did not necessarily come into contact with each other, but close enough to ''trip themselves out'', a safety mechanism for damaged power lines.
She was not sure exactly where the problems had occurred.
It could have been in more than one location, as there were six occurrences.
