Minister for Transport Simon Bridges will travel to flood-affected areas in Whanganui today to assess the damage.
The township of Waitotara shortly after the weekend's flooding - most residents have now returned home. Photo: PowerCo
A number of roads and bridges had been washed away and large parts of the region have been cut off.
Whanganui District Mayor Annette Main flew over the district in a helicopter yesterday to get an idea of the extent of the damage.
"We combined it with a drop to some people who are not able to be reached by vehicle," she said.
"The damage is huge and it going to take a long time to repair on at least two or three of our routes."
Simon Bridges will travel to flood affected areas. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Last night 270 Powerco customers in Whanganui and Taranaki were still without power. The company had reconnected 130 properties yesterday after the weekend's torrential rain and flooding
Acting network operations manager Dean Stevenson said most of the houses without power were in Waitotara and could not be reached because of flood damage to roads.
Several pockets within Whanganui, along with customers in Strathmore, Whakamara and Tangahoe Valley still did not have the power on. At the height of the storm more than 6000 lost power.
Mr Stevenson said fine weather was due over the next two to three days and this would make it easier to repair lines and restore power to all homes.