UPDATE: Powerco crews are out in force this morning reconnecting customers after strong wind and rain caused a number of outages over the weekend.

About 14,000 customers remain without power across Powerco's networks as at 9am, with Bay of Plenty and Taranaki hardest hit – 6391 and 3053 customers without power respectively.

There are also 2595 customers without power in the Coromandel, Thames, Waihi and South Waikato areas combined, 855 in Whanganui, 596 in the Manawatū, and 539 in the Wairarapa.

Network Operations Manager Scott Horniblow says teams are working as quickly as they can to clear debris and restore customers now that conditions have settled.

'Conditions were very challenging at times yesterday, making it unsafe to scale ladders and carry out reconnection work. As winds started dying down yesterday afternoon we were able to continue into the evening with restoration work, and we're picking up again this morning.”

Planned maintenance outages across Powerco's network have been postponed to allow reconnection work to continue at pace.

'Reconnecting customers is our priority at the moment, so we have postponed planned works for Monday and Tuesday so crews can focus on the reconnection work at hand.” says Scott.

'We'd like to thank customers for their patience as we work to reconnect them.”

Current outage information can be found here

EARLIER:

Thousands of people in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty are still without power this morning following the strong winds that ripped through the region.

On Sunday, high winds from Cyclone Dovi tore through North Island, uprooting trees and damaging powerlines.

Northland, Auckland, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Manawatū, Kapiti, and Wellington all reported power outages.

Powerco says about more than 30,000 people lost power on Sunday.

This morning, homes in Omanawa, Te Puna, Bethlehem, Matakana Island, Aongatete, Waihi, Katikati, Te Puke, Pongakawa, Greerton, Lower Kaimai, Whakamarama, Papamoa, Omokoroa and Tauranga.

In a statement released overnight, Powerco says field crews had been working as quickly and safely as possible to reconnect thousands of customers who are without power as a result of the turbulent weather.

Strong winds have blown vegetation and objects such as trampolines into lines causing outages.

A creaking sound was heard before this tree fell in Kopurererua Valley on Sunday. Supplied photos.

Bay of Plenty and Taranaki have been hit the hardest, however, the impact of Cyclone Dovi has caused widespread damage and outages for Powerco's customers across the North Island.

Network Operations Manager Scott Horniblow says extra crews were called in on Sunday morning and have worked hard throughout the day to restore customers when it has been safe to do so.

'Our crews have done a fantastic job in extremely challenging conditions, and we'd like to thank our customers for their patience as they worked to get power back on as quickly as possible.

'When gusts are too strong for crews to climb ladders to make repairs to equipment at the top of poles, we have to wait for the wind to subside before continuing work.

'For safety reasons, we stood crews down for the evening at 10pm, except for those who will be on hand to respond to any emergencies during the night. The rest of our crews will start work again in the morning,” he says.

In the event of an emergency such as power lines coming down, Powerco urges people to stay well clear of lines as they may be live and call its 24/7 emergency line on 0800 27 27 27.

Current outage information including estimated restoration times can be found on Powerco's website at www.powerco.co.nz/outages.