KEY POINTS:
Health authorities are warning of serious health risks in the wake of the storms that lashed much of the North Island this week.
Water supplies have been contaminated in some areas, food is in danger of being polluted and there are fears a 2000-litre sewage spill at Long
Bay, north of Coromandel town, may have affected nearby mussel and oyster farms.
And the Fire Service is warning homes flooded in Northland could be at risk of fire as people use alternative means of heating, cooking and lighting.
The warnings come as the clean-up operation continues in Northland, Auckland and Coromandel.
At Long Bay, Thames Coromandel District Council operations manager Neil McCann said sewage pumps failed due to power cuts, causing the sewage spill.
With the telecommunications network down, alarms to provide early warning of the breakdown failed to go off and staff were not aware of the problem until it was too late.
The Ministry of Health, the District Health Board and Environment Waikato have all been notified of the spill, which may have polluted seafood farms off the coast.
Mayor Philippa Barriball said "suckers" had been used to soak up some of the sewage yesterday and warnings had been issued to shellfish farmers in the area.
In the Bay of Islands, residents in Kawakawa and Opua were being urged to boil drinking water. A 20,000-litre tanker has been sent to the Kawakawa Fire Station for distribution to the community as work begins on restoring the town supply.
Electricity linesmen yesterday restored power to most affected customers throughout Northland, Auckland and Coromandel.
About 2500 customers were still without power in Coromandel and, yesterday afternoon, Vector said 4600 customers in greater Auckland were yet to have their electricity re-stored.
Llew Richards, who lives in Bombay, was last night facing his third night without power.
"We were told it would be restored by lunchtime [yesterday]. It's getting frustrating. We are living like refugees in a Third World country."
Mr Richards, his wife and two young children have been staying with family in Pukekohe during the day and returning home to their lifestyle block at night to sleep.
A Counties Power spokesman said about 100 households were still without power in the Franklin district and he was hoping the electricity would be back on today.
Further north, about 5500 customers are still without power.
Telecom said 10,000 landline customers in the north were still disconnected yesterday while mobile coverage was patchy.
Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope yesterday activated a funding mechanism which allows up to $500,000 of Government money to be given towards the clean-up of the flooding in Northland.
Any more funding beyond that must first be approved by Cabinet, which meets on Monday.
A spokeswoman for Mr Benson-Pope said advice would be taken from local councils and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry before a decision was made.
Forecast
A two-day window of fine weather before another low moves over Northland and Auckland towards the end of the weekend.'At this stage, we are not expecting anything severe but we will be monitoring developments. The low is up in the western Tasman off the coast of New South Wales and it will approach Northland on Saturday night or Sunday. The bulk of Saturday should be okay.'
* Lead forecaster John Crouch
Storm round-up
Far North
About 5500 people are without power.
Kaitaia has 32 uninhabitable homes and 25 uninhabitable pensioner units. Two homes are at risk of subsidence and a further seven are still to be assessed.
Homes are also condemned in Whangaroa and inspections are yet to be carried out in Whangaroa, north Kaitaia, Kaeo and Totara North.
In Whangarei the district council has set up "welfare centres" in the city and at Ruakaka and Hikurangi to allow people to charge their cellphones, use showers and get something hot to eat.
An Iroquois helicopter yesterday carried out reconnaissance flights over isolated communities, dropping food, water and provisions to about 100 people.
About 70 households were still cut off yesterday at Te Ngaere Bay, Omauna and outlying parts of Kaeo and Kawakawa.
Auckland
About 4600 people are without power.
Meanwhile, six more businesses on the North Shore have reported break-ins carried out during the blackout on Tuesday night. In total, 13 businesses have been burgled.
Four unoccupied houses were also broken into, bringing the tally to 17 break-ins over 24 hours.
Inspector Les Paterson said the normal rate of break-ins over 24 hours was about four.
"We're hot on the trail of the offenders for some of them, but nobody was actually caught on the job."
Coromandel
About 2500 people are without power.
A 2000-litre sewage spill at Long Bay, near Coromandel township, has sparked pollution fears.
Storm losses $60 million
Losses from the storms which hit Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel this week are likely to top $60 million, according to a revised Insurance Council estimate.
Chief executive Chris Ryan said the council's estimates were losses which insurance paid out and "only about a third of the actual financial cost".
"Another third of the cost comes from uninsured losses, which includes people who are not insured and losses to public infrastructure such as roads and power lines - the Government isn't insured for those types of losses.
"On top of that, another third of the losses are from the impact to the economy - damage to crops, people not being able to work, and general interruption to business."
Mr Ryan said insurance companies would face three choices in assessing premiums for properties repeatedly hit by floods or weather damage.
They would either raise the premium, prevent owners insuring for flood damage, or insist properties were raised higher from the ground before granting a policy.
