Fourth day without power drags on for Auckland residents

Four days without power is starting to take its toll on the thousands of Aucklanders who can't cook, heat their home or take a warm shower.

Restoring power is even more difficult as heavy rain and strong winds overnight brought down more branches and trees.

The outage has also caused sewage to overflow in one northern suburb, leaving residents fuming.

More trees down are making it even more difficult to restore power.

"The first day is a bit of an adventure, [but] by the time you get the fourth day everyone is getting really quite tired," says Riverhead resident Andrew Stanely.

Almost 5000 people are still without power, mostly in the North and West.

Residents at Riverhead are angry with Vector as the power cut caused sewage problems.

"The way they've communicated with people no one's known what's going on - everyone has been in limbo," one person says.

Most people don't have to think about where their sewage goes, but people in Riverhead are on individual systems, which means when the power goes the system fills up and overflows.

One mother at Riverhead tells Newshub she was disgusted when sewerage came up through the sink. There was some relief when council trucks were called in to get rid of the overflow shortly after the power was restored to some properties on Saturday afternoon. But others still have to wait.

"It's the last hard mile, and some of those ones are going to take a few days, into next week to resolve," says Minoru Frederiksens, Vector's head of networks.

Vector says it is trying to fix its maps, which show some areas have power when they don't.

"It's not good enough and we're doing the best to get it right," Mr Frederiksens says. "That's why we are starting to talk about suburbs to give it more of a broader thing."

Power is still out at some properties in Epsom.

Richard Adams' new baby arrived a day after the storm. No power means his wife and baby can't come home.

"A whole lot more stress and I just need to get the power back on as soon as possible so I can move back in and so there's somewhere that she can come back to," he says.

Ghazal Abdollahi is using a toilet at her mother's school to get ready for a wedding as the power's still out at home.

"I can't wait to shower in my own house," she says.

A huge clean-up is now underway right across the city. Council workers are visiting thousands of homes to make sure people are okay.

Water and Port-A-Loos are being delivered to those in need, while others assess the damage.

Many are using gyms and public pools for a warm shower, and others using campervans and generators.

While the forecast still has some rain in it, the city will have a better chance to recover in the coming weeks.

Newshub.