About 3000 Hawke's Bay customers of power suppliers Unison were expected to be still without electricity overnight despite the company's efforts to reconnect households and business left in the dark by Thursday night's storm.
In the biggest Unison operation since snow brought down hundreds of poles around the Rangitaiki Plains between Napier and Taupo last August, the company had, however, restored supply to about 12,000 customers during the day, said company relationship manager Danny Gough.
"Our crews have made great progress and we are really proud of their efforts, especially given the extent of damage on the network," he said.
While some crews worked till 10.30pm on Thursday night because of the damage caused by falling trees and flying debris, staff were being recalled early last night in the interests of safety, but in the hope of completing the job from first light today.
Mr Gough said at least 50 staff were working on repairs yesterday, including some involved in assessment of damage via helicopter flyovers.
Staff on the ground included crews from Taupo and Rotorua, and Mr Gough said: "That's the irony. They were the areas that we were expecting to get hit."
Even company chief executive Ken Sutherland saw action in the field, being seen yesterday at one scene in Havelock North warning children to keep away from fallen lines.
Unison had warned customers during yesterday to make preparations for going a second night without electricity, and areas expected to be affected were Kahuranaki, Maraetotara, Middle Rd, Raukawa, Crownthorpe, Sherenden, Rissington, Patoka and Tutira.
"The damage is widespread, but at this stage we are aiming to get most customers in urban areas back on by the end of the day," he said early yesterday afternoon. "This is a massive restoration effort and we are focused on repairing and restoring where we can make the biggest impact with the most number of customers."