Northland escapes aftermath of Cyclone Pam

Northland appears to have had a lucky escape from Cyclone Pam with only a few fallen trees and power outages reported.

Tony Phipps, group controller for the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, said this morning there were no reports of serious damage or injury linked to the cyclone.

Mr Phipps said Northland Regional Council figures showed the highest rainfall between yesterday afternoon and early this morning had been 67.5mm at Glenbervie, while the maximum wind gust recorded at Cape Reinga yesterday had been 118.5km/h.

"Emergency services have reported a quiet night with few storm-related incidents, although daylight may reveal some damage that we are as-yet unaware of given the heavy seas off Northland's east coast overnight."

Fire service area commander for Whangarei and Kaipara Mike Lister said only five minor calls were made last night, mainly to report trees which had fallen onto roads.

A taskforce of firefighters arrived from Auckland last night to keep tabs on Cyclone Pam however Mr Lister said he believed they did not attend any incidents.

"Our team of volunteers would have gone to the calls so the Auckland crew were on stand by. We were very very lucky," he said.

About 50 customers in the Waiotemarama Gorge area in South Hokianga have been without power since about 11pm last night. Top Energy spokesman Peter Heath said most faults were caused by trees in or across lines and said the outage was expected to end at 1pm today.

Mr Phipps said given the devastation Cyclone Pam had caused in the Pacific, Northland -- which often bears the initial brunt of tropical cyclones that reach New Zealand -- had been fortunate it had eased as predicted as it drew closer.

"Our thoughts are now with those in the Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Bay of Plenty areas which are expected to feel Pam's effects a bit more severely."

In its latest update, MetService said cyclone Pam has now been re-classified as an 'intense extra tropical cyclone'.

However, it was still expected to bring heavy rain, strong winds and swells to north east areas of the North Island later today.

The cyclone was expected to maintain its intensity, or intensify slightly, as it moved south-southeast, MetService said.

As at midnight, the cyclone was situated about 450km to the northeast of Auckland and 450km to the north of East Cape.

MetService said the cyclone was expected to lie about 150km east of East Cape, or northern Gisborne, by midday today - before it would move away from the New Zealand coastline towards the Chatham Islands.