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Helicopters and army unimogs are carting food and other groceries to about 100 isolated Northlanders.
The packages include bread, milk, cereal, first aid supplies, cheese, margarine and toilet paper.
Far North District Council spokeswoman Alison Lees said the power is out, the roads are blocked but resilience among the residents is strong.
"People are cheerful and in good spirits," Ms Lee said.
From the air, the destruction is devastating with flooded paddocks and blocked roads.
Ms Lee said welfare officers are still looking for long-term accommodation for eight elderly people in Kaitaia after flood waters roared through their pensioner units on Tuesday.
Over 60 people have been billeted with friends and neighbours so far, Ms Lees said.
Townships earmarked for emergency deliveries include Mahinepua and Wainui, about 25km north of Kerikeri and Mitimiti, on the coast directly west of Rawene.
Twenty residents in Moerewa are still without water but a tanker is on stand-by if needed.
Some roads have been opened, including state highways one, 10 and 11 and a massive clean-up is underway on the district's roads.
Northland in the dark
Homes in Northland could be in for a dark week with power in some areas unlikely to be restored until the weekend.
Northpower network services manager Calvin Whaley said a main line on the East coast near Tutukaka is out and the full extent of damage will not be known until it's been fixed.
"It's not looking good. We've had between 10 and 11,000 customers off the supply through-out the area last night."
He said work has been made difficult with a number of roads closed in the area.
"Yesterday even our muscly guys couldn't put a ladder up a pole, let alone get up one," Mr Whaley said.
No injuries to workmen have been reported but there was a scare yesterday after a hydro-station worker was forced to abandon his vehicle in a flooded road.
Mr Whaley said emergency services thought people were still in the car but the worker had walked several kilometres back to the hydro station, West of Whangarei.
Counting the cost
Damage from the wild weather will cost tens of millions to fix - and leave homeowners in vulnerable spots facing higher premiums to help cover the costs.
Chris Ryan, chief executive of the Insurance Council, said the storm damage would cost much more than the $10 million bill from floods in March.
"There's no firm figure at this stage, but anecdotally the floods in Northland will cost more than the March floods up there. The confluence of events around the country mean it will be quite a severe bill."
The worst of the storm cleared Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel last night but thousands of people still spent a second night without power. Repair crews struggled to deal with the sheer number of lines brought down by hurricane-force winds.
On Auckland's North Shore, police stepped up patrols after thieves hit shops when power was cut on Tuesday night. Inspector Les Paterson said several stores were burgled by opportunists who "revelled in the chance to burgle premises where it is completely dark".
Burglars also targeted an Auckland apartment block which lost its roof.
Tenant Jane McGill said a man tried to take her washing machine. "All day it has just been madness ... people are taking off with stuff."
Mr Ryan warned the storm damage payout could be followed by higher insurance bills.
"There's an expectation that premiums on homes in areas vulnerable to bad weather may face rising premiums because there is pressure on insurers."
The situation was worsened by the rising costs of tradesmen and materials.
Emergency services were still dealing with storm-related calls around Auckland, Northland and Coromandel yesterday although the number of calls had dropped by late afternoon as the worst of the weather made its way down the country.
Prime Minister Helen Clark, who toured the Far North yesterday, said residents in towns repeatedly hit by flooding may have to consider moving.
She also promised a relief package for the region, which was expected to be bigger than the March package because the impact of the latest storm was more widespread.
Staff at the police northern communications centre had enjoyed a "much quieter" day than their colleagues the previous night.
Superintendent Allan Boreham said the rain in Northland and the wind in Auckland had led to a record number of calls throughout Tuesday afternoon and night.
More than 2500 calls were taken - double the number for a Tuesday night.
Of those, almost 1000 were emergency calls, and many staff stayed long after their shift to help out.
"This is the highest number of calls in a late shift the centre has received - higher even than New Year's Eve or Guy Fawke's night."
Most calls were about road blockages, fallen trees and power lines, vehicles trapped in floods and people in danger.
Vector spokeswoman Denise Bailey said 141,000 homes lost power at the height of the storm.
Engineers would continue to work throughout the night, weather permitting, but their efforts were hampered by fallen trees and debris in some areas, she said.
"All available field staff have been working to restore power and 120,000 customers have their power back. Some of the hardest hit areas may still have to wait up to 24 hours until power is restored," she said.
Those areas are Warkworth, Snells Beach, parts of East Coast Bays up to Orewa, Waiheke Island and parts of west Auckland.
Meanwhile, up to 20,000 Telecom landline customers in the upper North Island were without service at 5pm last night. Some mobile coverage was also affected.
Telecom spokesman Kelly Moore said staff were delivering generators and batteries to affected network sites.
"We continue to ask customers whose power is out and the phone is still working to use their phones for important calls only.
"This will help conserve power on the network where sites are operating on Telecoms battery back-up power or generators."
About 50 Telecom network sites were running on generators, with a further and 82 portable generation systems were delivered to support other sites.
Meanwhile, hundreds of skiers and snowboarders were disappointed yesterday as Mt Ruapehu was forced to remain closed.
Both slopes were shut on Tuesday as winds up to 100km/h whipped the snow into a blizzard, but the mountain is expected to reopen today.
NORTHLAND
Dargaville residents were last night warned to prepare for the possibility of the Northern Wairoa River flooding the town, while the Far North remained in a state of emergency.
Many small communities remained isolated because of road closures, slips and surface flooding and a lot of areas were still without power.
About 160 people from the Kaitaia area were displaced because of damage to houses.
Kaeo was under water for the second time in four months, remained isolated and without power, water or sewerage services.
COROMANDEL
Power was being restored around the Coromandel Peninsula in stages and should be back on in all towns by 2pm today.
Thames Hospital has suspended surgery until full electricity is restored.
Most roads were reopened but caution was advised because there was still a lot of debris.
Water and wastewater systems were running on generators but would become fully operational when power was restored.
AUCKLAND
Several buildings and homes were damaged, mainly in Mt Eden, Symonds St, Auckland University and the North Shore. At least 40,000 homes, mainly in Rodney, were still without power last night. The outage could last three days.
- Additional reporting: Stuart Dye, Alanah May Eriksen and Elizabeth Binning
