The number of households without electricity after the severe storm in the North Island is steadily falling. The storm toppled trees, brought down power lines and caused flooding and road closures.
At the height of the storm on Saturday night, tens of thousands of households were without power. In the Auckland region alone more than 50,000 customers were cut off, and tens of thousands more were without power in Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula, the Hauraki Plains, Tauranga and Taranaki.
In the Far North, Top Energy said on Monday morning only about 30 customers scattered around the district were without supply.
In Northland, lines company North Power says about 100 households were still cut off.
Lines company Vector said about 540 customers in Waikatere, North Shore and Rodney were still without supplies on Monday morning.
Spokesperson Phillipa White said about 1500 customers in Waitakere and on the North Shore are also having hot water outages.
That has been caused by damage to the pilot system that heats the water, and by damage to the power network itself.
PowerCo said there are about 200 homes on the Hauraki Plains were without power, but it hoped to have their supply restored by the end of the day.
Weather conditions
Weather conditions in Northland and Auckland eased on Saturday night, and MetService says the deep low had moved across the Bay of Plenty on Sunday, and was lying to the northeast of the East Cape.
Rain in the Coromandel also began easing on Saturday night, but a period of heavy rain was expected over Wairarapa on Sunday, and MetService warned residents to watch for quickly rising streams and rivers.
Periods of heavy rain were expected in parts of Gisborne and Hawkes Bay until Sunday evening, and southerly gales were due over coastal Hawke's Bay.
Road closures
At the peak of the storm many roads across Northland were closed, by flooding or debris.
In the Far North, cars became trapped in a flood near Rakauwahia Road and State Highway 12 at Taheke, west of Kaikohe.
All state highways in Northland were open by Sunday morning, though Transit was urging caution as many were still affected by the storm.
Water was still lying on many of the highways, including State Highway 10 at Kaeo, State Highway 1 south of Kaitaia and State Highway 12 west of Kaikohe.
Further south, diversions were in place on State Highway 1 at Warkworth due to a large tree blocking the road.
The Napier-Taihape road remains closed because of snow.
The road repair bill in the Whangarei region has been put at more than $2 million.
More than 50 roads were blocked or partly blocked by slips, flooding or fallen trees at the peak of the storm.
Contractors around the north have spent Monday working to clear debris, fill potholes and replace signs damaged by the rain and high winds.
Blizzard conditions in Ruapehu area
Mt Ruapehu skifield spokesperson Mike Smith says the storm hit earlier than predicted, and up to 10,000 people were told to leave the mountain when the skifield was shut at 10.30am on Saturday.
That evening, police and mountain staff dealt with about 100 cars stuck in blizzard conditions in the Mt Ruapehu area.
The skifield remained closed on Sunday, and is due to reopen on Monday.
Another storm is predicted midweek, which MetService says will bring rain and strong winds.
MetService forecaster Mads Naeraa says the low will arrive from the northwest but it is not certain exactly what path it will take or how intense it will be.
