The Big Wet: Northland drenched in overnight soaking - trees down, roads flooded

Weather mayhem saw the North catch the brunt of a storm that struck New Zealand overnight with roads closed, trees down and power out.

Rain hammered down throughout the night with forecasters predicting respite early this afternoon - and then a fresh storm on Friday.

The intersection of Takahue Rd and State Highway 1, Kaitaia, was closed this morning after a crash at 5am.

Kaitāia and Ahipara volunteer firefighters helped free a driver whose legs became trapped under the dashboard when his truck hit a fallen tree in the Far North. Photo / supplied

A truck ploughed into a tree already down amid heavy rainfall and pitch-black conditions, a spokesperson for the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade said.

Firefighters, including a crew from Ahipara, worked together to free the driver whose legs were trapped by the crushed dashboard.

The spokesperson said he was talking and able to help hold the specialised equipment in place used to remove him from the truck.

The truck ploughed into a tree already down around 5am on Takahue Rd in Kaitāia. Photo / supplied

Another crash involving one vehicle on SH10 just north of Pakaraka School partially blocked the road early this morning and diversions were put in place. Police advised motorists to expect delays and avoid both areas if possible.

SH1 was closed about 7.30am near Horeke, between Perry Rd and Rangiahua Rd. Emergency services are on location diverting traffic.

Both roads were reopened by late morning, police said, but asked motorists to be cautious.

"Police urge motorists to drive with extreme caution, particularly in areas where there is surface flooding as there could be hidden hazards," a police spokesperson said. "If you can delay travel, we would advise you do so until the weather event has passed."

SH1 HOREKE - 7:45AM
Due to flooding, #SH1 is now closed between Perry Rd and Rangiahua Rd in Horeke. Avoid the area or follow direction of emergency services on-site. Updates here: https://t.co/wR7818X1XR. ^MF pic.twitter.com/y9KoUdN5JF

— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) July 11, 2022

Fire brigades, mostly volunteers in the Far North, were kept busy in the early hours of this morning as strong winds brought down multiple trees across the region. The first weather-related callouts began around 11pm, starting in Whangārei Heads, followed by a further 12 - nine of which occurring between 4am and 7am.

MetService meteorologist Lewis Serris said Kerikeri proved to be the dampest part of the region with a dousing of 79mm of rain in the 12 hours up to 8am today. Around 16.5mm of the town's total rainfall fell in the hour up to 8am.

Serris said numerous Northland weather stations recorded hourly rainfall between 10mm to 12mm. "Anything over 6mm in an hour is classified as heavy rain," he said.

The strongest wind gust in 12 years was recorded in Marsden Point off the coast of Bream Bay reaching speeds up to 135km/h - the highest in the region.

Heading north, passage across the Mangamuka range was frustrated by slips and trees down. A motorist reported being able to pass along a single lane.

Flooding near Kaeo in the Far North. Photo / Facebook

On SH10, at Kaeo, the road was down to half a lane. High tide was at 5.30am so the river level is expected to drop.

There were also reports of a slip on SH11 at Lemons Hill and surface flooding on SH1 near Te Pua Rd.

Across the motu, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Tai Tokerau reported surface flooding throughout the Hokianga and tree debris on the road between Kohukohu and Panguru. There were also reports of surface flooding on Te Pua Rd, near Kaikohe. Parnell St, Rawene's main road, was also blocked by a slip but a detour was possible.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Tai Tokerau is also warning motorists of a small slip on the south side of the Bryndrywns, covering part of the southbound lane. On the coast road between Waipu and Mangawhai, there were a number of small slips and tree branches on the road.

The Paparoa Oakleigh Road, by Wairere Rd, was partially blocked with a tree down.

The road to Northland was blocked north of Puhoi with a large slip this morning. Photo / Supplied

Also south of Whangārei, a tree had blocked the southbound lane on Mangapai Caves Rd.

On the east coast north of the city, severe flooding closed the road through Punaruku near Ōakura - even for heavy-duty trucks.

Waka Kotahi NZTA warned those heading south today that SH1 was closed between Orewa and Warkworth due to a large slip and fallen trees.

The warning was issued at 8.40am. Motorists were advised to wait until conditions improved or take the detour via SH16.

The wild weather disrupted emergency services' ability to get to those in need, with the Westpac Helicopter grounded. An Auckland crew were called to assist a Whangārei patient suffering a medical complaint around 12.45am but had to return to base because of the adverse conditions.

Five-year-old Alex van Rooyen at Haruru Falls near Paihia after a night of heavy rain. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Over 1000 Northlanders are likely to be without power today as extreme weather causes outages across the region.

461 Northlanders in Maromaku are impacted by a power outage since as early as 6.30am according to Top Energy.

Another 450 Northlanders in Mangonui have been struck by power outage due to the bad weather since 7am.

The extreme weather has impacted the Oruru feeder in Peria, leaving 188 customers across several roads in the area impacted. The power outage was reported at 3.30am and it isn't expected to be restored until 2pm according to Top Energy.

Tree contact on the Te Kao Feeder has left 137 without power in Cape Reinga, Waitiki Landing, Karatia and Te Hapua.

Over 60 Maungatapere Northpower customers have been out of power since 4.47am this morning due to damage to power lines caused by trees. Faultmen are on site in Poroti to carry out repairs.

Rainbow Falls near Kerikeri after this morning's heavy rain. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Outages have also been reported in Tautoro, Okaihau, Towai and Poroti.

Kamo High School principal Natasha Hemara said while they waited for the holidays to get work done on the school building, the rough weather meant more delays.

"The struggle for us is we still have got building preparations occurring on site.

"We usually wait to get the scaffolding, water blasting, plastering, painting and so on done when students are away, but this bad weather means it cannot go ahead."

Hemara said last time there was a big storm, also during school holidays, they had trees fall on the building. "We do our best to keep our trees safe and monitored because it is the health and safety thing."