Auckland suffered a major storm on Tuesday evening with many trees and power lines down. At first 140,000 homes were without power. Rural areas, especially around the western beaches, are still without power. Because of the damage, the electricity company, Vector, has not been able to restore power to many of the homes in these areas. At first the company said it could be three days before power was restored, but now it could be much longer. About 11,000 are still waiting.
For people living in these areas, having no power makes it difficult to stay living there in the meantime. They have no light at night, no electric heating, no cooking facilities if they have an electric stove and no hot water. Fridges and freezers are no longer working. People cannot charge their phones nor watch TV. Some cannot open their garage doors without electricity so cannot get the car out. Some rural houses use electricity to supply water from their water tanks.
The YMCA is offering hot showers to those who have no hot water. The local fire station is giving out bottled water for those who need it.
The weather turned cold earlier in the week, making it hard to keep warm indoors. This weekend, thunder and heavy rain is forecast. However, the temperature will not be less than 15 degrees over night, and should reach 19 during the day.
Nearly every street in Auckland had some tree damage and several streets are still closed to traffic. The council has been cutting down trees which are damaged or old and could come down in another wind storm.
Although autumn often brings some winter weather for brief periods, it can also bring many days of sunshine.
Vocabulary
restore (v) – bring it back again, make it new again