Gisborne has been battered in the Cyclone Gabrielle, and residents have been warned it could be days or weeks before power is fully restored.
Roads have been cut off, there's been extensive flooding, evacuations and the town's water supply has been hampered.
Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz says there are more than 400 people in the town's evacuation centres.
"We are seeing disruption like we have never seen it before," she told Checkpoint.
"We are cut off at this stage roadwise... We have several faults in our pipeline. So we are asking our community please, you need to save water urgently. That is the most important message we want to get out there.
"We've got water for a day or two while we start our emergency plant up, and then also we have got limited electricity back in town so some of our residents will see that they have limited power back."
