Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle: Red heavy rain and wind warnings for Auckland, Northland, Coromandel, Gisborne; orange warnings for Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and other North Island regions

• 20 severe weather warnings and watches in place. Heavy rain and strong winds warnings upgraded to red alert for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Gisborne
• Thousands of properties are without power across parts of Northland and Auckland and lines company says people need to prepared for days without power
• Coromandel residents have been urged to consider evacuating early - the region is under the heaviest red rain warning
• Damage already felt across Northland
• Grab and go: A list of what to pack in a ‘grab bag’
• Cyclone’s latest track, region-by-region warnings, shelter locations and all you need to know
• Advice for how to cope with stress and anxiety

The Auckland Harbour Bridge has been closed to all traffic and Northland has declared a state of emergency as Cyclone Gabrielle tracks closer, creating waves over 11m high in the Bay of Islands.

MetService is also warning that the worst is yet to come, as 20 severe weather warnings and watches were upgraded for the North Island.

Auckland schools have been advised to close on Monday by the Ministry of Education but the decision remains with each school board. Aucklanders have been advised to work from home.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has urged people to “take the severe weather warning seriously”.

“Make sure you’re prepared. There is no need for panic buying,” he said at a press conference in Auckland this afternoon.

Thousands of homes across Northland and Auckland are without power and one lines company has told customers to be prepared for prolonged outages.

“Some properties may be without power for days if damage is severe,” Counties Energy said.

MetService says gale force winds have been recorded at many places, including a 90km/hr gust at Kaitaia and 140km/h at Cape Reinga.

“These have already caused power outages across Northland and on Waiheke Island, and Whangaparaoa 120km/hr and winds closed the Auckland Bridge as of 3pm today,” said Lisa Murray, Head of Weather Communications.

“Waves of nearly 11 metres have been recorded at the Bay of Islands at 4pm today.

“I can’t remember a time when the whole of the North Island was on a wind warning. This is a huge sprawling weather system affecting the country.”

”The worst affected areas can expect 350-450mm of rain, 120-140km/hr wind gusts, and dangerous waves and coastal inundation, especially at high tide.”

MetService red warnings for heavy rain are in place for Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti Gisborne north of Tolaga Bay, and Coromandel.

These warnings cover from Sunday through to Tuesday (apart from Northland which will ease on Tuesday) with the weather already affecting areas in the north.

Orange warnings for heavy rain are in place for Bay of Plenty, the rest of the east coast of the North Island, and parts of the Marlborough including Kaikoura.

”Extreme rain and wind are expected for many North Island regions, accompanied by phenomenal seas along northern and eastern shores, and significant storm surge near, and slightly in advance of, the cyclone’s centre,” said Murray.

”The wind of this strength combined with rain means rain could be almost horizontal making it very difficult to walk in and rain could get under the eaves of houses adding to the flooding risk.

”This is a really extreme and impactful event. While the system has been “downgraded” from a tropical cyclone, this does not mean it has weakened in terms of impacts to New Zealand. In fact, it is intensifying and spreading the strong wind and heavy rain across a wider area affecting the whole of the North Island in some way.”

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Trees have fallen in many places including a tree on a house in Mangawhai.

Fire and Emergency shift manager Colin Underwood said one fire appliance attended the incident on Cames Rd, Mangawhai and staff were assisting the occupants.

Auckland and Coromandel are under MetService’s highest severe weather warnings possible as Cyclone Gabrielle tracks closer to New Zealand bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

MetService has issued red warnings for both heavy rain and strong winds for these regions.

Red heavy rain warnings are also in place for Northland and Gisborne, while orange warnings for heavy rain and strong winds are active for most other regions across the North Island.

“Gabrielle has lost its tropical characteristics, this doesn’t mean it is weaker,” MetService said on Sunday morning.

“It will be a very intense system as it moves closer to our shores in the coming days. Widespread severe weather is forecast with the worst expected on Monday/Tuesday.”

In a social media post this morning, Auckland Emergency Management said residents should consider evacuating early if they are in flood-prone or isolated areas.

Some Coromandel residents have been given the same advice from local authorities.

“We are now confident to say that a very severe and destructive cyclone is descending on Coromandel. It is now going to arrive earlier than anticipated, Sunday... later in the afternoon,” said Thames Coromandel District council Civil Defence controller Garry Towler.

“We are going to have over 400mm of rain, with wind gusts in excess of 140 to 150km/h ... seriously consider preparing to evacuate if you are in areas that are prone to flooding or areas that are going to be inundated with coastal surge.”