A 46-year-old man from Lapaha has been charged with drunk driving after crashing his vehicle into a high voltage power pole last night, September 6 causing a temporary power outage for all of the Central Business District. 

Tonga Police said today the accused was also charged with reckless driving.

It is alleged that the accused was heading east on Salote Road and did not stop on the intersection of Salote and Bypass Roads, but swerved and crashed his vehicle into the high voltage power pole at around 11:30pm.

He sustained a minor bruise on his head and was taken to Vaiola Hospital for treatment and has been released.

Meanwhile, Tonga Power Acting CEO Setitaia Chen said after the crash they had to turn the power off to isolate the damaged section, which was towards Vuna Rd.

Areas affected included all of the CBD including Vuna Road heading towards Patangata and Houmakelikao.

"The power was off at first for half an hour (12am-12:30am) for all of the CBD and then another half hour from 5am-5:30am, while we reconnected he damaged section of line after repair."