On a Saturday afternoon in December 2016 the power went off around lunchtime and stayed off for 6 hours or so. It was massively inconvenient for a lot of people. Now we know why the power went off — [January 25 2017] Man claims dropped cigarette caused him to crash car:
Just how Justin Benner crashed his car in Manakau was the centre of argument in the Levin District Court on Wednesday.
Benner pleaded guilty to careless driving in relation to a December 17 incident. …
Police prosecutor Sergeant Simon Chamberlain said a witness saw two cars driving next to each other down the road beforehand. Benner was driving the car on the wrong side of the road.
Benner ended up swerving out of the way of a car heading in the opposite direction, crashing into a power pole as a result.

Photographer Maree notes: …rain, hail or powercut, Countdown deliver the groceries (the actual reason I took the photo as you can see the Countdown truck by the 80k sign)!
Maree runs the Waikawa Beach Weather website. Thanks Maree.