Some properties in Tauranga remain without power following Cyclone Vaianu.

Residents on Bellevue Rd, and a handful of others in the Western Bay, who lost power in the early hours of Sunday morning, are without power despite some of their neighbours having their supply restored.

According to Powerco, as of 3.30pm today, 20 customers, mainly in Western Bay of Plenty, remained without power following the cyclone.

“We’ve just been kind of putting up with it,” Bellevue Rd resident Aliana Wills said.

She told SunLive she had been without power since 4am on Sunday.

She described hearing what sounded like “a big explosion” when the power first went out, followed by flickering lights across neighbouring homes.

“All of our lights kind of flashed on for a split second and then I heard it at the neighbour’s house as well.”

Wills said her household was relying on extension cords from neighbours, charging phones in cars, eating takeaways and seeking basic necessities like hot showers elsewhere.

“We were kind of expecting it, we knew that there would at least be some kind of power cut.”

She said the biggest challenge was trying to cook food or figure out what to eat and after almost three full days without power, she said it had been “kind of annoying”.

“I think the confusion really set in once we realised the rest of our street had power, and we still didn’t.”

Wills said she didn’t realise how much they used power until they didn’t have any.

“Especially trying to have a shower, trying to cook food, or going to the bathroom, and you’ve just got a candle with you.”

She contacted Powerco and was told they were aware power was out and didn’t have an estimated time of when it would be restored.

“We’ve been putting up with it because we didn’t think it would be such a long-term thing, I guess we’re not too sure what we’re going to do if it still stays out.”

Powerco contractors have been door knocking residents in the vicinity of Bellevue Rd, to inspect meter boards and home electrics following Cyclone Vaianu early Sunday evening.

A tree fell on the power lines during the gale force winds, causing the high voltage power line to connect with the low voltage power lines below.

Powerco head of network operations Mark Dunn said 14 properties had been checked by an electrical inspector.

He said they had been inspecting meter boards and home electrics following damage from Cyclone Vaianu.

“For safety reasons, seven customers remain without power following the incident.”

It’s understood affected customers have been given information on the reconnection process, which involves an electrical inspector, Powerco and a customer’s electricity retailer (the company they pay their power bill to).

Field crews have been out again today (Tuesday) restoring power to affected customers where it’s safe to do so and access allows, Dunn said.

He said power would be restored to customers when it was safe to do so.

Powerco is working to restore power to these customers today, prioritising those who have been without power since the initial cyclone damage on Sunday.

“However, it’s important that if you can’t see your outage on our outage map, that you contact your electricity retailer, the company you pay your power bill to, to ensure that your fault is in our system,” Dunn said.

“We understand it’s difficult to be without power, so thank you for your continued patience and understanding.”

Kaitlyn Morrell is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.