Those who had ability to heat water shared with neighbours.
Wainui residents Keith and Lesley Daniels had their neighbour over for dinner last night as she had no means to make a meal.
Daniels said there was a nice community spirit with all neighbours checking on each other.
The Daniels were one of many residents filling water bottles for drinking and to flush toilets at the beachside suburb, which is reliant on rainwater and electric pumps.
Coxco transport driver Kenneth Whitehead said he would be by the Wainui surf club with his truck carrying 10,000 litres of household water until 8pm tonight.
Eastland Network is hopeful power will be restored by tonight.
Coxco Transport driver Kenneth Whitehead delivers water at the Wainui Surf Club. Photo / Sophie Rishworth
Emergency generators are providing power to rest home facilities, and food and fuel outlets. Many commercial outlets also have their own generators. Several food outlets are also operating with gas.
Good progress was achieved overnight repairing the 110kV transmission line.
Eastland Group spokesman Andrew Gaddum said the crews worked as long as they could last night until the weather turned against them around midnight.
"We have two wires joined up across the valley and are just getting winch gear into place to lift the cables up to the pylons. We will work through the morning to get the lines up.
"We are still on track to restore power to the whole district in the late afternoon or early evening."
Power was restored to the East Coast via generator before 3am last night and west of Puha all the way to Motu.
Generators are running again today but power supply will be intermittent.
The bulk of the Gisborne district remains without power.
Tairawhiti Civil Defence controller Patrick Willock said several service stations are now open for fuel and gas supplies
Police put on extra staff on the beat last night and will continue to do so for the next few nights to ensure safety and help reduce crime around the city.
Police area commander Sam Aberahama said police were surprised at the number of people walking around the central city last night. He was thankful for the calls received from the public about suspicious behaviour.
Gisborne Hospital has provided a new phone number for the public as a result of overloading. This is 06 869 0528. People should continue to use the 111 number for emergencies.
Most GP practices remain open today but are working at reduced capacity due to difficulty accessing electronic notes.
Three Rivers Medical centre could not take any more bookings but those who had an appointment were being seen with prescriptions being written by hand.
Chen wears a headlamp at the pharmacy. Photo / Sophie Rishworth
Next door David Moore Pharmacy was open and operating in the dark with pharmacists wearing headlamps and handwriting labels for medicines.
Gisborne' s Countdown supermarket closed soon after the power cut. Refrigerated and frozen items were packed into trucks.
Meanwhile, locally owned Pak n'Save owner operator Ewan Atherton pulled out all stops to keep doors open.
"We protected all out perishables immediately and got a generator."
The supermarket stayed open and was fully operational by 6pm last night.
Last night as darkness fell residents dusted off board games and got out the cards by candlelight .
This morning early morning flights were cancelled because of the lack of power for crew accommodation.
A Gisborne District Council rapid response unit set up in the army hall car park this morning giving out free hot coffee and sausages.
Quality Hotel Emerald manager Amandeep Singh said the power cut was "not good" for business.
There had been a lot of cancellations although existing customers could use their electronic key cards there was no power to cut new ones.
The hotel now has a generator and is accepting new bookings at discounted rates.
