Hundreds of Tauranga homes without power

Hundreds of Tauranga residents are waking up without power today.

Homes in Oropi, Te Puke, Matakana Island and Brookfield have had power cut after wild weather pummelled much of the North Island overnight.

Oropi residents were the worst affected, with more than 330 homes hit. A total of 181 homes on Matakana Island were without power and 55 and 47 homes in Te Puke and Brookfield.

Powerco stated that most people would have their power restored by about 9am.

Meanwhile, around 12,000 households and businesses across Auckland have lost power due to storm damage.

Most outages have been in rural areas north of Auckland city and many of these have been caused by wind blowing tree branches onto power lines.

A spokesman says repair work is continuing today but with strong winds continuing today worker safety was paramount.

"With the strong winds continuing today, we continue to ask for patience as our crews assess conditions for site safety, repair and re-livening work in conjunction with fatigue management plans," said the spokesman.