She said more worrying for the family was the plight of her two elderly parents who lived a little further up the valley.
"They're in their late 70s and, while they say they're doing okay, we're getting concerned. If we know how long the power will be out, then we could make arrangements for them."
In the meantime, Ms Gray and her household were relying on a gas cooker for their meals. No power means not being able to pump water to fill their water tanks, and there is no hot water either.
A Powerco spokeswoman said while people should ring 0800 272727 if they see dangerous sections of the network, customers wanting information about power cuts should first phone their electricity retailer or go to www.powerco.co.nz/Outages-and-Faults/.
Krysti Wetton, Powerco communications adviser, said it was important consumers contacted their retailer if they were without power.
"If they contact the company that sends them the power accounts then they can register the fault," Ms Wetton said.
She said fault crews were working across the Wanganui region, repairing the damage from the weekend storm and Powerco was hoping to have all services restored by late yesterday.
"There's been a significant amount of damage and we've got crews who are getting to the more remote areas of your district. That includes users between the city and Raetihi," she said.
Yesterday, Powerco said the storm damage to its network was the worst it had experienced and the huge amount of rebuilding required would take some time to complete in rural, hard-to-access areas.
As at midday yesterday, Powerco said there were still about 3400 consumers off the grid but it expected to have power on to at least 1500 later in the day.
Andrew McLeod, Powerco general manager of electricity, said they were making "steady progress" restoring supply, with about 1000 properties back on since Sunday night.
Of those 3400 consumers without supply, half were in Wanganui and the other half in South Taranaki, mainly between Waitotara and Patea.
Mr McLeod said more resources were being brought into the hardest-hit areas of Patea and Waverley and remote areas between Wanganui and Raetihi.
A number of farms on State Highway 4, from Upokongaro and Fields Track, were still without power yesterday afternoon. "We've got 200 people working hard to get power back on," he said.
He said the damage to the network in Patea was particularly bad.
"We understand how difficult it is for people to be without power and not knowing when it might be back on. We're working with electricity retailers and get the most up-to-date information out to members of the public," he said.
"Our first priority is making the network safe. The high number of damaged lines mean there are still many that remain down and they must be treated as live at all times," he said.
Generators were on their way to Patea to temporarily supply the majority of shops in the town centre.
