Thunderstorms and downpours: Storm easing but watches and warnings still in place

Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Auckland have had a soaking, with showers still hampering the regions. Photo / Warren Buckland

Heavy rain has battered eastern parts of the North Island overnight, and storms are expected to continue in many areas for much of today.

Bay of Plenty, Coromandel and Auckland have all had a soaking.

MetService meteorologist Brian Mercer said some warnings are still in place, with heavy rain forecast on the Coromandel Peninsula, in Bay of Plenty west of Whakatane and east of Te Kaha, and also for Gisborne, north of Tokomaru Bay.

In the South Island, weather warnings remain in place in Nelson, west of Motueka and the Richmond Ranges, as well as Canterbury from Rakaia southwards.

Waikato, Taupo and Canterbury residents have been advised to expect heavy rain.

Strong wind watches are also in place for eastern Waikato, around the Kaimai Ranges.

Mercer said overnight downpours were easing in Auckland, but many places were soaked.

Piha was one of the worst hit areas, receiving 79.5mm of rain, while the Waitakere Ranges got between 50 and 75mm, and the airport had 25.2mm.

Residents have taken to social media to post pictures of flooded houses and streets, with one image showing a Surf Life Saving IRB checking on those affected.

Flooding in Piha after heavy downpours on Saturday night. Photo / Facebook

Coromandel also experienced heavy overnight falls, with 163mm of rain falling on Golden Cross in the last 24 hours. Whakatane Airport, in the Bay of Plenty, recorded 91mm.

"While the rain is expected to ease today, scattered showers are still forecast for Waikato northwards and there is the possibility that some of those could be heavy with isolated thunderstorms and downpours," Mercer said.

"Currently we do have an active thunderstorm moving down over the Coromandel Peninsula, but it does look like it is dying out. There is also one moving down through the Bay of Plenty as well."

The central North Island will have periods of rain and isolated thunderstorms and downpours, easing later in the morning.

Taranaki to Wellington regions are looking at occasional rain on and off during the day, but nothing particularly heavy.

Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Buller and Westland will have rain, with heavy falls in Westland and South Canterbury.

Snow is expected to about 700m in South Canterbury and northern Otago. By afternoon that snow is expected to have stopped.

Mercer said they had not received any reports of overnight snow yet, but cameras showed there was some snow around the Crown Range.

Southland and Fiordland is the place to be today, with the finest weather forecast in these regions for the day.

"It is mostly fine, with quite a bit of cloud in and around Southland," he said.

As of 3.30pm yesterday Vector said about 1100 customers were without power due to the storm, but a spokesman said this morning that crews had worked through the night and power was restored for most people.

"There is a small handful without power this morning and we're working on those remaining jobs now," he said.

Customers can call 0508 VECTOR (0508 832 867) for information about outages or check vector.co.nz.