Dark start to school holidays for thousands of Aucklanders still without power

Thousands of Auckland residents who lost power during Tuesday's storm have been told it may be well into next week before their electricity is restored.

The delay comes as school holidays start today amid predictions of more bad weather.

Vector has reconnected power to 95 per cent of customers but 9000 households in isolated pockets around the region were still in the dark last night about when theirs would be restored.

The company confirmed it was likely to be days before electricity would be switched on in the remote community of Piha.

Vector had said on Thursday the settlement would be back on the grid within 24 hours and before that had told residents power would be reconnected by 6pm on Wednesday.

In its last update yesterday at 5.30pm Vector said it was "deeply sorry" some customers were still without power.

"We understand this is going to be a big disappointment to those customers affected."

Staff would try to repair faults during the weekend, but some were unlikely to be fixed until next week.

Auckland Emergency Management said last night about 1200 1.5 litre bottles of water were being sent to Piha and Karekare and portable toilets were being delivered to 35 affected properties.

Tuesday's storm was similar in force to a Category 2 cyclone, with winds gusting over 200km/h at Manukau heads.

It ripped trees from the grounds, tore roofs from buildings and plunged 180,000 homes and businesses into darkness.

More heavy rain, strong winds and possible isolated thunderstorms are expected today as a front over the Tasman Sea moves east.

MetService has issued a severe weather watch for southern parts of Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty (west of Tauranga) where localised downpours are possible and rainfall accumulation may reach warning levels.

Temperatures reached a startling low of 7C yesterday morning when more than 10,000 homes were still without power.

Piha residents told the Herald they were disappointed by the lack of warning about Tuesday's storm and other people from central suburbs expressed similar irritation at authorities' seemingly slow response.

Ellen Xing, who lives in Three Kings with her child and partner, said Vector had repeatedly put back the time for the reconnection of their electricity supply.

"We keep getting a message from Vector and expect to get the power fixed. This is the sixth time. It's just frustrating," said Xing.

Alison Murray, of Mt Eden, said she felt like she was talking to robots when she contacted Vector about a tree branch that had been left dangling on powerlines for days, nearly bringing the line to the ground.

Murray, her husband and their three children had the misfortune of being the only home on Charlton Ave that had power knocked out on Tuesday.

She said she repeatedly contacted Vector about a tree which was dragging the lines down.

"Every time I went to them there's an automated response so you feel like you're not talking to a person who understands what you're saying," Murray said.

"They're trying to do their job and I know it's hard so I don't want to criticise them too much but it's frustrating to feel like they're not listening."