Tree felling crews have been taking on the dangerous and physically exhausting job of clearing up thousands of trees brought down in storms across Auckland last week.
Loga Sauni-Ofisa Photo: RNZ/ John Boynton
West Auckland was one of the hardest hit areas with some homes still without power more than a week after trees took out powerlines.
For the past week Loga Sauni-Ofisa and his crew from Waitakere Trees have been overloaded with work.
He had already removed 30 trees in the past seven days.
"Last week was full on for us working long hours I would say... pretty much trying to help everybody."
Most of the work has been removing trees and branches which have fallen on homes and powerlines - with some work requiring cranes.
Mr Sauni Ofisa said he felt a little worn out from the high work demand but knew teams across Auckland were at full capacity.
"I mean right now everybody is working hard trying their best to get the power back on again."
Many trees were still in a fragile state, and Mr Sauni-Ofisa said people needed to use common sense.
"We were on our way to the job this morning and some people still were hanging under trees that were unsafe.
"We had to stop and tell them to get away from the tree even though the signs and everything were around it."
Steven Roberts said his boss has been receiving 150 calls a week for work.
Tyler Moore was brought in to help boost numbers at the company which has a small team of two crews in action.
"I just got called in on Friday to ask if I wanted to work for the next two weeks...hopefully there's a proper full time job at the end of it."
Sally Heritage is the homeowner of the Henderson property and said the tree came down on to her house over two nights during last week's strong winds.
She's sad to see her 80-year-old liquid amber cut down to size.
"I love trees, which is why I'm not taking it all down - I'm going to try and hang on to what's left for a wee while.
"Personally I'd like to see all the lines under grounded then we wouldn't have that issue - I think street trees are really important especially as the area intensifies."
