Photos of fallen trees show some of the damage last night's wild weather caused across Dairy Flat, in Auckland.
The photos, taken by local Caleb Paterson, show the extensive damage the strong winds left behind.
One of the pictures shows a broken trampoline, which the local says landed about 100 metres from where it took off from.
The wild weather also caused flooding and lifted roofs overnight across Auckland.
Further downpours and possible thunder are expected today.
The fierce winds led Dairy Flat residents in the city's north to take to Facebook with reports of a tornado ripping through the area.
"That must have been a tornado. It sounded incredibly loud as it rushed past our place," one Facebook user wrote.
"One minute I thought the house was going to blow in from the south side, and a few seconds later I thought the north side was going to blow in. Freaky," another said.
Another resident who had lived in the US Mid-West agreed: "That's what they usually sound like."
A resident from Pine Valley said it was the "loudest thing I ever heard" as their home was "hit full-on".
"Our fences got shredded, my car's been bashed in, the walls of our garage are gone, we have multiple big trees down on our drive and we can't leave.
"Our power lines are on the road along with the pole, and lines got ripped off our house."
"I love a storm but that was *** terrifying," another resident wrote.
Fire and Emergency NZ's Craig Dally said crews raced about the city responding to 24 calls for help in north and west Auckland from about 10pm last night.
Silverdale and Dairy Flat in north-west Auckland were hit first.
Then the heavy winds moved to Te Atatu, West Auckland and Waimauku.
"There was flooding, roofs lifting and trees and power lines down," Dally said.