The Four Square owner in a Southland town says residents have looked after each other during the aftermath of Thursday's storm.
Tuatapere was without power, phone or electricity for about 35 hours, until Friday night.
Raissa Hewton said the community banded together well during the outage, but the outside world seemed to have forgotten about them during a "stressful and overwhelming" few days.
"[We received] no outside help. We did get a water tanker delivered, but that was all we got.
"Our nurses, our fire brigade, even us at the shop, the school, we had to go and we made a plan, and we looked after each other."
Nurses checked on elderly and vulnerable residents, while firefighters filled people's toilets, so they could get some use.
The school and Four Square donated food and fed those who needed it, Hewton said.
She said the town itself was spared much damage during the storm, but surrounding rural areas were hard hit.
The Four Square estimated it had lost goods worth a couple of thousand dollars during the outage.
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