Deluge of rain leads to power outages in Auckland

Drivers avoid a blocked drain in Tamaki Drive yesterday. Photo / Chris Loufte

Aucklanders without power as rain sweeps across the region.

Power was lost to almost 3,000 homes after a deluge of rain in the Auckland region last night.

The worst-hit area was West Auckland when 1,406 homes in New Lynn, Avondale, Glen Eden, Blockhouse Bay and Henderson lost power. A further 111 homes were without power in Muriwai.

Northwest of Auckland, 1,199 homes in Kaukapakapa and the Kaipara Coast were without power. And in Takapuna a further 200 homes lost power.

A spokeswoman for Vector said the outages were due to the bad weather. Crews were last night working to restore the power.

"Heavy rain can cause trees to get very wet and strike the [power] lines," she said. The cuts last night came after northern New Zealand was drenched when a sub-tropical low rolled over the top half of the North Island yesterday.

Bursts of heavy rain kept many indoors in Auckland and things aren't going to get much better.

Today, the rain will ease to showers around the country but high winds of 40-50km/h will blow in, especially in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel and Taranaki.

It will also be colder, especially tomorrow, MetService duty forecaster Leigh Matheson said.

"A polar airstream is coming up from the ice so there will be snow to sea level in the far south and snow showers pushing into the Rimutaka Hill Rd and the Desert Rd as we get into tomorrow," she said.

"That sou-wester will continue into tomorrow and Auckland will feel noticeably colder."

WeatherWatch head weather analyst Philip Duncan said it would be "miserable" in Auckland today.

Temperatures would dip to about 14°C tomorrow, but wind chill would make it feel colder.

The weather should begin to improve on Tuesday, but it was likely to still be showery in Auckland and Northland, Duncan said.

"This is just another taste of what we've got around the corner."

Matheson said the eastern Bay of Plenty town of Whakatane received a hefty 85mm of rain between midnight and 4pm yesterday.

Auckland rain gauges had readings of 8mm an hour when the worst of the wet weather passed through yesterday afternoon. Hunua, in southeast Auckland, logged 16.5mm in an hour and 42mm between midnight and 4pm. Most city gauges had totals in the 20-28mm range.

Some areas in Northland received rainfall topping 50mm between midnight and 4pm.

The Coromandel was next in the firing line last night for the wild weather and the East Cape was expected to receive 80-100mm of rain overnight.