Rain and thunder rocked Auckland last night, flooding a small town up north.
Puhoi, north of Auckland, receiving a belting from the rain, which felled a few trees and left mud on the road.
One Puhoi local says the thunder was the loudest she has heard in 50 years. Photo: 123RF
Thunder and lightning caused sleepless nights for many in the town.
In a video filmed by a local, water could be seen rushing over a road and property... brown and running fast.
Mike Vitali said his property had been hit particularly hard by the flooding.
Vitali said that he went out in his gumboots filming the flood water, watching it crash through his fence posts.
"You should've seen it man," he said.
His car, parked at the local mechanics, was written off after getting caught in the flood waters.
The aftermath of flooding in Puhoi. Photo: RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Residents spent the morning cleaning the Puhoi Library, one of the oldest in the country.
Among them was Judith Williams, long time resident, Queen's Service Medal recipient, and descendant of the original bohemian settlers.
Williams said she spent the evening tucked up in bed, but could hear the thunder outside.
She said the thunder was incredible, like nothing she had ever heard in her 50 years of living in Puhoi.
"Some people's houses were shaking, I'm not quite sure how sound can do that," she said.
She said it was unsettling, explaining she had never experienced such a storm.