Wild winds have battered the upper North Island, leaving scores of households without power.
Severe weather forecaster Paul Mallinson said Auckland and Northland recorded gusts of 120kmh and 12,800 customers were without power in the Auckland region this morning. At its worst 18,000 customers had no electricity in Auckland.
Auckland Civil Defence said they monitored the storm overnight and kept in touch with MetService, emergency services, transport agencies and utilities across the region.
"High winds peaked in the early hours of the morning, bringing down some trees and branches which have been dealt with by the council, and prompting around 90 callouts from emergency services - police and fire - but not causing widespread damage."
Northern Fire shift manager Dallas Ramsay said crews attended more than 70 weather-related call-outs throughout Northland and Auckland overnight clearing trees fallen across roads, arcing power lines and securing lifting roofs.
Mt Wellington, Epsom and the North Shore bays are all badly hit with power outages and have been for at least two hours.
Thunderstorm watch
MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm watch across central and eastern New Zealand. It included Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Gisborne and Taranaki.
The storms were expected to starting sweeping across from the west of the island early this morning and not move off the eastern regions until late this afternoon.
Severe weather warnings remain in place for the upper South Island, western regions in the lower North Island and the Bay of Plenty. The rain was expected to ease for most of the country by this afternoon.
