Wild weather has caused havoc with slips blocking roads, heavy rain flooding buildings and strong winds downing power lines and bringing a tree down on a house.
A locked-down New Zealand - including Auckland - is further battening down the hatches as a wet and windy storm batters the country.
Parts of the City of Sails were drenched on Sunday afternoon with up to 23.5mm of rain falling in six hours.
10-20mm of rain for much of the Auckland area in the last 6 hours. 23.5mm in Waiatarua, but 10.8mm at the airport. https://t.co/7k3nmdWQwx ^TA pic.twitter.com/FUuJJDG54s
— MetService (@MetService) May 3, 2020
Firefighters used chainsaws to remove a tree that smashed into a home's roof on Hume Dr in Auckland's Hillcrest about 3.30pm.
Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Craig Dally told the Herald firefighters were then sent to a Karangahape Rd building which had flooded.
The blustery front whipped up New Zealand all day, with high winds lashing Wellington, and earlier across Canterbury, where gusts hit 104km/h at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula just before midday.
The strong gusts lifted a roof in Taranaki and left roads scattered with debris.
It also made for choppy waters in Akaroa Harbour, we all as Lake Tekapo and the Cook Strait, where the winds had been whistling through, MetService said.
It's understood a property in Island Bay also flooded after heavy rain.
A strong wind watch is in place for Auckland, with "strong to gale force" northeasterly winds expected into evening. Gusts could potentially reach 100km/h in exposed places.
You may have noticed the wind & rain picking up.. If you have to travel for essential work, any public trees that are blown down contact @AklCouncil on 09 301 0101 and any power outages call @Vectorltd on 0508 832 867. Stay safe! https://t.co/EdP1yYpiZH
— Auckland CDEM (@AucklandCDEM) May 2, 2020
"The rain is bucketing down at the moment and has been falling steadily for at least an hour," a Herald reader in Auckland said.
"I can hear it thundering on the roof and dripping from my busted gutter. My garden's loving it but it's not so welcome for my 6 and 8-year-old, who have some serious lockdown cabin fever."
The rain will be welcome to Auckland's Watercare. Dams which supply the city's water were less than half full earlier this week, and water-saving measures are already underway including calls to limits showers to four minutes.
A heavy rain watch has been flagged for Northland where a drought was declared on February 11.
The region has seen periods of heavy rain on Sunday, with Kerikeri receiving 30mm in six hours. Opononi on the south shores of Hokianga harbour had 15mm of rain in just one hour between 11am and midday.
And here's the 6 hour accumulated rain that has fallen so far in Northland. Most places have seen a few mm, with Kerikeri a stand-out with 30mm in the last 6, and some of the more central areas seeing even more than that. https://t.co/NSlU8DWP3I ^TA pic.twitter.com/vuRTJlo1Im
— MetService (@MetService) May 3, 2020
"We know Northland is obviously pretty dry and in need of some rain and hopefully this will bring some relief at least to those empty water tanks up there," said MetService meteorologist Tom Adams.
Here are the current active Severe Weather Watches and Warnings. Full details on https://t.co/qHyE5zhh6X ^TA pic.twitter.com/YkKzJ7mNJk
— MetService (@MetService) May 3, 2020
The West Coast has been lashed by rain - and now MetService says residents should brace for possible thunderstorms.
Heavy rain overnight closed State Highway 6 east of Westport on Sunday morning, between Inangahua and Westport, with slips at each end of the Lower Buller Gorge, at Uranium Point and at Inangahua. SH6 south of Westport to Greymouth is open, but rain is continuing to fall in northern Westland and Buller district.
As well as the Lower Buller Gorge slips, the road south of Inangahua was also closed on Sunday morning due to surface flooding between Inangahua and Reefton but has since reopened.
"We encourage people to avoid using the roads in these conditions and please be on the lookout for surface debris. Slow down if you do have to make a journey," said Waka Kotahi West Coast maintenance contract manager Moira Whinham.
SH67, north of Westport to Mohikinui, has also had some surface flooding but remains open.
Heavy rain watches and warnings were also set for the ranges of Westland, south of Otira, Taranaki, eastern Bay of Plenty hills, and Tongariro National Park and the Kaimanawa Range.
Some Wellingtonians woke up to the sound of rubbish being scattered across their streets.
A strong northerly wind has been howling through the capital all day coupled with lashings of rain.
Meanwhile, MetService has been posting photographs on social media on Sunday morning of dumps of snow at Australian ski fields.
Meanwhile in Australia... Some Aussie ski fields have just had a good dump of snow from the trough that is heading our way early next week. Temps will drop here too, with snow in the South Island ranges. Image Falls Creek, northeast Vic, 1600m AMSL ^TA pic.twitter.com/wrzfT09GiE
— MetService (@MetService) May 2, 2020
And although the weather isn't always mirrored across the Tasman, the forecaster expects Canterbury and Otago high country areas to get decent snow dumps early this week.
While temperatures remain autumnal-mild on Sunday, they are set to plummet over the next 48 hours, thanks to a predicted southerly blast.
Snow is forecast to around 700m and MetService is warning that frosts are possible in some South Island spots.
THE HIGHS AND LOWS: MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES IN THE MAIN CENTRES TODAY AND TUESDAY
Auckland today 21C: Tuesday 18C:
Hamilton today 20C: Tuesday 17C:
Wellington today 18C: Tuesday 13C:
Christchurch today: 23C. Tuesday: 12C.
Dunedin today 19C: Tuesday 10C:
Matariki hākari is the time to celebrate the kai that comes from the land of Kiwi farms.