Niwa said 2000 lightning strikes hit Auckland, where the storm left trees down and thousands of people without power through the night.
Vector confirmed its crews have been out restoring power wherever it’s been safe to do so, although there are still some areas without power.
“It’s difficult to provide the exact number of customers without power as these numbers are constantly changing while our crews restore power. They’re also extremely busy first thing in the morning assessing what happened overnight and planning for the day ahead.
“We understand that power outages are frustrating, and thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we work to get their power back on.”
Fire and Emergency dealt with about 200 weather-related calls at its northern centre yesterday - mostly related to trees that had fallen on houses, power lines and roads in high winds.
Fences had also been knocked over, trampolines went flying and tiles and roof iron had been lifted, Fenz northern shift manager Josh Pennefather said.
He was only aware of one incident where people had been hurt - two people in Papatoetoe had been assessed by St John Ambulance due to glass that had smashed.
A section of Vector's outage map shows large areas of west and northwest Auckland have no electricity this morning.
Power out across parts of Auckland, Waikato
Many in Auckland and Hamilton will be waking to a big clean-up job this morning and a large number still have no electricity.
Large areas of Waitākere and the Kaipara Harbour have power outages, as does part of Waiheke, according to Vector’s outage map.
Sandspit, Snell’s Beach, Dairy Flat, Panmure, Mission Bay, Ōrākei, Mt Wellington, Ellerslie, Whitford, Papatoetoe and Takanini are also affected by outages this morning.
A notice on Vector’s website says crews have been working through the night to assess damage and determine when power can be restored.
“We are notifying customers as quickly as we can and will continue to provide updates and information through our outage centre. In some cases, we may not be able complete damage assessments and repair plans until [Thursday].”
Further south, dozens of Counties Energy customers also have no electricity - and are being warned to prepare for prolonged outages.
Counties Energy's power outage maps shows dozens of homes in south Auckland and Waikato have no power this morning.
“We are sustaining large amounts of damage to the network,” a notice posted on the power supplier’s website last night said.
“Most outages are related to single properties, so there’s a huge number of individual faults that need to be isolated and made safe, then resolved. Outages span from the Manukau Heads through to Kaiaua and down to Waikaretu on the west coast.
“Our crews are working in difficult conditions to resolve these as quickly and safely as they can.”
People were told last night to make alternative dinner plans and consider staying with friends or relatives.
Some of those properties have had power restored but WEL Networks’ outage map shows hundreds of homes in Raglan and Te Akau still had no power as of 6am.
Hundreds of WEL Network customers, mostly in Te Akau and Raglan, have no power this morning following wild weather last night.
Winds to die down this morning
Torrential downpours, damaging winds and marble-sized hail rolled through the upper North Island on Wednesday, with severe winds battering Auckland last night.
A hail storm swept through West Auckland at 1pm yesterday. Photo / Victoria Bidgood
Foul weather grounded flights, stranding hundreds of passengers, and three Air New Zealand planes were struck by lightning, boats were blown over at an Auckland marina, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge was closed due to high winds.
Motorists were earlier advised to detour via State Highway 16 and SH18 due to the closure, with MetService reporting gusts on the harbour bridge reaching 120km/h.
An orange strong wind warning was in place for Auckland and Great Barrier Island until 2am while strong wind watches covered Northland, Waikato and the Coromandel Peninsula.
Warnings and watches have now been lifted but while gale-force winds should be over it’s still expected to be a “blustery” day in many places, according to MetService.
