Police are directing traffic as firefighters work to clear the area where a tree has fallen across two lanes in Auckland City.
Video / Vaimoana Tapaleao
Wild weather overnight has sent trees crashing down in Auckland, while many areas in the North Island copped a battering of rain and thunderstorms - with more rain to come today.
A large tree has fallen across a busy street in central Auckland, blocking two lanes outside the St Matthew-in-the-Citychurch.
The 8-metre tree is blocking two lanes in Wellesley St heading towards Hobson St, Fire and Emergency NZ northern shift manager Colin Underdown said.
FALLEN TREE - WELLESLEY ST WEST, CITY - 6:40AM Emergency services are attending to a fallen tree currently blocking the left westbound lane on Wellesley St West, just prior to the intersection of Hobson St. Please take care in this area. ^TP pic.twitter.com/LP1pnEJYhb
Parents posted to social media saying they had been turned away at the gate this morning as the school had no power.
However power was restored just past 9am, and the school reopened.
A Vector spokesman said crews were investigating the cause of the outage, which was weather-related.
"Our objective is to do this as quickly as possible while ensuring the safety of our crews and the public."
All lines should be treated as live at all times, he said. If people saw damaged power equipment or power lines down they should keep a safe distance and call 0508 VECTOR, he said.
Two trees have also come crashing down in west Auckland. Police were alerted just after 5am, with the trees blocking the road at the intersection of Scenic Drive and Mountain Rd.
Those in the Gisborne area are being told to expect between 100 to 120mm of rain from the early hours of today through to 2am Thursday. Heavy rain accumulations of up to 120mm are on the cards for Bay of Plenty from Whakatāne westwards.
Locals are being told to keep a close eye on weather updates as heavy rain may cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly.
MetService says surface flooding and slips are also possible and driving conditions may be hazardous.
MetService meteorologist Philippa Murdoch said the gloomy weather was thanks to a complex low just to the northeast of New Zealand.
"That's spreading a number of fronts and troughs over the country today.
"With that, we are expecting and already experiencing a little bit of heavy rain - particularly in places exposed to that northeast like Northland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and northern Gisborne," she said.
Wild weather hit Auckland last night, bringing down trees in Muriwai, west Auckland, and causing motorway flooding just after the Upper Harbour Highway on-ramp.
Wind gusts reached up to 65km/h on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and 110km/h in the Hauraki Gulf.
However, the northern and central fire communications offices both reported no weather-related call-outs overnight.
MetService said a band of thunderstorms had come through over the North Island - bringing bad weather and heavy rain particularly in Kaitaia in the early hours of this morning.
Auckland's heaviest rainfalls happened between midnight and 1am for most of city. Auckland Airport last night reported getting 12.8mm of rain from yesterday afternoon.
However, other parts of Auckland recorded up to 45mm of rain in the past 24 hours by 5.30am today.
Today's weather
Whangārei 19C high, 12C low. Showers and rain, chance heavy, this afternoon.
Auckland 19C, 13C. Showers then rain from this evening.
Hamilton 19C, 12C. Rain, easing to a few showers this morning. Chance thunder this afternoon.
Tauranga 18C, 13C. Rain, possibly heavy and thundery, easing this evening. Strong northeasterlies easing this afternoon.
