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.