RNZ In Depth reporter Anusha Bradley lives in Te Awanga, east of Hastings, and has had to evacuate her home as Cyclone Gabrielle bears down.
She spoke to Corin Dann.
Transpower has declared a grid emergency in Hawke's Bay due to an unplanned outage.
A red notice was issued by the national grid operator from 8 o'clock this morning.
It says suspected flooding has caused damage and an extend outage is likely because access to the site is limited.
