Cleanup continues after wild winds of Cyclone Dovi downs trees, causes power cuts

Damage from ex-tropical Cyclone Dovi has left people stranded in their homes, while power outages are affecting farms and schools.

The rains have cleared and the winds have died after a weekend of wild weather, but the cleanup is continuing.

Waikato dairy farmer Annabelle Scherer today faced an anxious wait to see if her power returned.

Her property was one of thousands across the North Island without electricity as lines companies work to repair damage caused by high winds.

Scherer said power went off at her farm about 3.30am on Monday, and she knew of people nearby in Gordonton in the dark for longer.

"Cows need to be milked twice a day, morning milking and afternoon milking.

"[The outage] means they haven't been milked this morning, so they can get quite uncomfortable with the amount of milk they've got on.

"It just impacts a dairy farmer quite significantly."

Scherer was looking at options such as using a power generator in the milking sheds for her 200 cows if the outage continued.

"I don't like to think about it, really, if it doesn't back on. We'll have to definitely try and come up with something."

Meanwhile, the farm's maize crop had been damaged in the high winds, and a pine tree fell across the farm's race on Sunday afternoon, shortly before milking.

Scherer said she felt as if she was going to take off in the wind when working to clear it.

The ex-cyclone also affected her youngest two children, who came home early from Whitikahu School. Her older two children's high school wasn't affected.

Whitikahu School principal Brent Harper said about three-quarters of the school's 120 pupils went home on Monday morning.

"We lost power early this morning and without having adequate access to, or being able to flush, the toilets and have our drinking fountains going, it became a health and safety issue."

Power was restored about 12.20pm and water not long after. Pupils unable to leave still had lessons.

Harper said high winds had also toppled trees at the school, while letters on the school sign had blown away.

Hamilton Girls' High School was also affected by the wind. It is closed until Thursday because of damage to buildings from fallen trees.

A statement from the school said one tree caused minor damage, but the other fell through a building's roof, gutter and cladding, damaging a computer lab and a science lab.

Students were continuing to learn online from home and the school was working with the Education Ministry to get more classroom space.

Further south, a sodden weekend in Wellington caused slips in the capital.

In Wairarapa roads filled with water, making some impassable still on Monday.

Suzie Hanson and her partner and son were unable to get to school or work because of water on the rural Taumata Island Road, east of Greytown.

She said the rain started on Saturday and nearby waterways couldn't hold it.

Her 7-year-old son Leo Taylor managed to keep himself amused in the water.

"It's just waist-high floodwater in the driveway. My son wanted to go surfing, so he went surfing [in it]," Hanson said on Monday.

"We're still flooded in today, but it's definitely receded heaps and we can walk around now in our back yard, but we can't get out of the road. The road is still blocked."

Through the central North Island more roads were closed, including until today a flooded section of State Highway 1 near Marton, in Rangitīkei. Trees blocked the Pahīatua Track near Palmerston North, which connects to the eastern side of the island.

In Palmerston North contractors have been clearing tree debris.

And in south Taranaki a family had a close call on Sunday when high winds brought down a mature tree at their Hāwera home.

Te Kere Davey said he knew something was wrong when he heard his wife, Jo, yelling.

"I was in the kitchen and my wife was in the lounge with the kids, and I heard her yelling.

"I went into the lounge and I saw the tree that our kids' swing hangs from had fallen into our back yard and crashed through our lounge window."

Davey faces a few days on the end of a chainsaw because his insurance does not cover arborists' costs.

In Auckland on Monday afternoon about 5000 people remained without power, mostly in the rural north and west of the region, down from 50,000 at the height of the storm.

Auckland Council had received more than 300 reports of fallen trees.

And while most people heeded warnings to steer clear of the ocean as Dovi swept across the country, a top Taranaki surfer was among a hardy few that headed out into the five-metre swell.

Seasoned competition surfer Jarred Hancox took to the sea just outside the Lee Breakwater at Port Taranaki.

In his sights was the Wedge, a wave that only works in conditions similar to Sunday's.

"It was so gnarly. There were waves I wasn't even willing to try to go on and then the ones I did have a go on were like heart in the mouth, toes on the board, just full, vertical, crazy monster drops."

Hancox said the waves were three times overhead in height and he compared them with the famous Pipeline break in Hawaii.

Such extremes were not expected for the rest of the week, as the MetService forecasts a return to calm weather.