Fresh heavy rain warnings have been issued for the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty through until this evening, with flooding and slips possible.
Powerco reported numerous power outages due to strong winds in the region including to 423 customers in Te Puke and 154 in Pukehina. Several people are also without power in Thames, Waihi, and Katikati.
Earlier more than 100 customers were without power in Ohauiti.
Fire services were kept busy with a number of weather-related call-outs that included extensive clean-ups and checks.
Overnight radarLOW TRACKS SOUTH TODAY
A low-pressure system is tracking slowly southwards today bringing wet weather and strong winds to parts of the North Island. The latest Watches and Warnings can be found here http://bit.ly/AllWarnings.
In the last 24 hours, stations in the Waikato and Coromandel Peninsula have recorded around 150mm of rain, with a station in Northland recording just over 100mm in the same period. Some of the strongest winds in the Auckland regional, including the recreational marine area recorded between 90-100km/h overnight with the strongest gusts recorded at Tiritiri Light up to 120km/h.
The video shows the track of model winds around the low overnight last night overlaid with radar imagery until 9am this morning. To track the weather system moving southwards today you can go to http://bit.ly/NZRainRadar and for the latest forecasts you can visit http://bit.ly/metservicenz. ^KL
Posted by MetService New Zealand on Monday, 14 October 2019
A large tree has been uprooted on The Strand near Dive Cres in Tauranga.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said crews spent about an hour clearing a big tree from State Highway 2 near Tanners Point about 2.20am.
A couple of hours later, another large tree came down on State Highway 2 near Te Puna.
A number of call-outs came from Whangamata, with one person concerned that their roof was blowing off as a result of the strong winds.
In Waihi, fire crews were called to a garden shed blowing over.
Whenuakite School south of Whitianga and Karangahake School were closed for the day, and there were reports on social media that Te Wharekura o Manaia and Hikuai School were also closed.
Rubbish collections are also being postponed in parts of the district thanks to road closures.
Local Karlene Moses filmed SH25 at Manaia completely covered in floodwaters earlier this morning. By 9.30am the waters were down and the road was passable but it could flood again if the rain continued, she said.
Metservice meteorologist Sarah Haddon said it was estimated the Western Bay of Plenty felt wind gusts upwards of 110km/h overnight.
However, some of the strongest wind was recorded at White Island in the Eastern Bay of Plenty with gusts up to 160km/h, she said.
Gusts reached between 60 and 70km/h in both Tauranga and Rotorua city.
Haddon said a lot of the heavy rainfall would be weakening today, but periods of rain were still expected across the Bay.
She said the low centre will begin to pull away tomorrow and residents can only expect the odd shower.
The Bay of Plenty region was advised yesterday to expect heavy rain and strong winds as a weather watch and warning were put in place.
NZTA said in a tweet that SH1 would remain closed between Taupo and Turangi overnight due to fallen trees across the highway.
An update is expected at 8am tomorrow Motorists were advised that detours were in place or to delay travel if possible.
MetService said heavy rain associated with the deep low systen was expected to continue to affect many parts of the North Island and upper South Island through until tomorrow.
Heavy rain warnings remained in force for Gisborne and Hawke's Bay and heavy rain watches for the Bay of Plenty from Te Puke eastwards, including Rotorua, Wairarapa and eastern Marlborough.
