Muriwai residents have run out of water after infrastructure was damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle and reserves ran out.

Auckland Emergency Management (AME) said today that a water treatment plant for the West Coast beach community remained offline.

A water storage reservoir was now empty and tankers were providing emergency water for residents from Sand Dunz cafe on Motutara Road.

AME said Watercare was working on a temporary supply plan for the region and hoped to complete it by Friday. Tanker services would remain until this date.

Across Auckland, about 3000 homes are still without power.

Power outages were still affecting 600 households on the hard-hit West Coast, in particular Piha, Bethells and Muriwai.

Vector said it had worked with AME on the immediate needs of West Coast communities, and the remaining work was “extremely complex and challenging”.

Chef Mike Van de Elzen, who has lived in Muriwai for seven years, said his power was restored yesterday.

He and his wife Bee have been cooking for volunteers, firefighters and police in the area - with and without electricity.

He told Newstalk ZB that they were asked to cater for 100 residents at a meeting at the Muriwai Golf Club on Thursday night but 1000 people turned up.

“That was just the Muriwai community. A lot of people were just walking around not knowing what to do.”

They had been given significant support from residents and local businesses, he said.

“Our local Fresh Choice in Waimauku just said ‘Come and take what you need’, which is extraordinary.”

Power has been restored to more than 35,000 homes in Auckland since the cyclone caused widespread damage over the last week.

Vector said additional staff would join its response from tomorrow. The crews would come from other network businesses which had spare capacity and were not required in other parts of the North Island.

“We know it’s difficult for people still without power, and that certainty over what to expect from here would help people make plans,” the company said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we are still finding that some faults have multiple issues which we do not discover until work starts, which makes restoration times challenging and changeable in some cases.

“In many cases, the first time we were able to access sites was last Wednesday or later due to safety reasons and road or site access.”

Clover Whiteley, from Waitoki, said houses in their area had been without power since Sunday, along with neighbouring areas Dairy Flat and Coatesville.

Most houses in these rural areas needed power to run their water pumps, and residents had been without drinking water and toilets over that period.

Whiteley said some people in the community had taken to digging toilet holes in their backyard. Others were running out of water for stock, she said.

“Everyone knows we are not as badly off as those on East Coast and our heart goes out to them.

“However we are all getting furious we are now eight days with no power, which means no water and toilets for anyone without a generator and we still have no ETA from Vector.”

Vector said it was providing estimated restoration times where possible.

“Some communities will receive these times sooner than others,” the company said. General information about restoration timelines were available on its website and was updated daily.

A large slip completely blocking Paturoa Rd, Titirangi. Several Paturoa Rd residents remain without power nearly a week after Cyclone Gabrielle hit Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray