Mr Doyle wasn't in Hawke's Bay in March 1988 to compare the damage with Cyclone Bola but said: "I've been an arborist in Hawke's Bay for almost 30 years. I've never seen anything like it."
Many of the trees which had fallen were melia, a canopy tree which sprouts a berry in April each year, creating an upper-tree berry-weight, and an umbrella effect, which proved too much for the trees, particularly in Napier where four separate periods of storms and wet weather in the last five weeks have brought over 250mm of rain - over 60 per cent more than the historical average for the whole of March and April in the city, which has an annual average of about 810mm.
Most of the incidents were root-plate lifts, where "the whole tree tips over," Mr Doyle said. By comparison, most work in other storms relates to branches falling from trees.
Mr Doyle said he was asked on Thursday by both the Napier City and Hastings District councils to be on standby, and "fortunately" none of the 10 staff were going away for Easter.
Crews started when the first calls started coming in the peak of the storm about 8pm on Thursday and continued until about 3am. They then worked about 10 hours on Good Friday, particularly in McDonald St, Napier, where the road, which extends from Carnell St to opposite the Latham St gates of McLean Park, was blocked by fallen trees in at least five places.
Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said with recovery including clearing trees, replacing uplifted pavement, other groundwork and inspection and possible removal of other trees at risk of falling there'll be "ongoing work for several weeks."
It was also a particularly busy time for roading contractors such as Higgins and Downer, while the Fire Service answered 125 calls in about 22 hours from 6.30pm on Thursday to just after 8.30pm on Saturday - 75 of them on Thursday night and mostly in the Napier-Hastings area.
Senior firefighter Mark Magill, who held down the desk co-ordinating crews and resources on Thursday night said every available vehicle, including an "area spare", a training officer's utility and a van, were used in getting to calls which were prioritised according to seriousness of the risk.
It ranged from cutting trees, and securing items such as flailing awnings, verandas and fencing, to checking people were safe, with no significant injuries reported.
"We were expecting rain," he said. "But I think, personally, we were surprised by the wind, and what happened here. But a lot of it for us was just checking people were OK, and then moving on to the next one."
Unison's Mr Gough praised the "extraordinary" effort of the entire Unison team, including field staff and all the support staff involved.
"We have had a massive team who have given up spending time with their families over the Easter long weekend in the interests of getting the power back on for our customers, which we have now completed for the vast majority," he said.