Brief heavy rain doused the region ahead of an active front that was moving quickly southeast across the country.
Kaikohe experienced the highest hourly rainfall with 24.6mm in the hour up to 11pm followed by Whangārei which recorded 21.4mm in the hour up to midnight.
Most places in Northland received between 15 to 25mm of hourly rainfall.
While those numbers may appear lacklustre, Clark said they are significant enough to cause almost immediate surface flooding.
The Advocate understands severe surface flooding plagued Riverside Dr in Whangārei last night.
"Anything around 6mm in an hour is considered heavy rain," Clark explained. "Northland's rainfall was pretty high intensities in a short amount of time."
A severe thunderstorm watch issued by Metservice last night came to fruition as 107 lightning strikes lit up the region in the past 12 hours.
Of those 26 were strikes from cloud to ground, Clark said. The other strikes were cloud to cloud.
Most strikes occurred on the fringes of Northland with people located centrally able to witness the light display instead of experiencing flashes close up.
Clark said Northlanders out and about today should keep in mind showers are forecast to continue later in the day.
