Photo: MetService
Downpours and strong winds are hitting parts of the North Island, causing road closures, power outages and surface flooding.
In Auckland, some bus and train services are not running after strong winds and heavy rain have drenched the city, causing slips.
Auckland Transport said trains between Parnell, Newmarket and Britomart are cancelled due to a slip between two stations.
Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
The Onehunga line is suspended but the southern line is running.
And on Waiheke Island, a slip is partially blocking Donald Bruce Road at Kennedy Point and causing delays.
On the Coromandel Peninsula, SH25 near Ruamahunga was closed in both directions near the intersection of Otuturu Crescent due to a slip. The highway was also closed south of Whitianga by the intersection of Wade Road, and at Manaia Bridge by flooding.
State Highway 35 north of Gisborne, between Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay, is closed as river levels rise.
A heavy rain warning for the region remains in place until 6am Saturday.
Waka Kotahi Hawke's Bay-Tairāwhiti system manager Martin Colditz said the Hikuwai River has been steadily rising, causing flooding.
The situation will be reassessed tomorrow morning.
Residents of Whitianga, Coromandel Town and Hahei are being asked to reduce their waste water discharges, including toilet flushing and showering, as the wild weather has caused multiple failures at water treatment plants.
Coromandel Civil Defence Controller Garry Towler said people should avoid all unnecessary travel.
"With the extra 80mm of rain we're expecting today, on top of the 102[mm] that we got overnight, together with our galeforce south-easterly winds, we're expecting it to be a rough day for many people."
Emergency services in the area said they had attended at least six instances of vehicles trapped by floodwaters this morning.
A car stuck on Whitianga Road was towed out of rising floodwaters by a member of the public about 9am, Fire and Emergency said.
Fire crews were called about 4am to two people stuck in their car in floodwaters in Thames, and helped move their car out of the flooding.
A slip blocked both lanes of Victoria Road in Thames after 100mm of rain fell overnight, Thames-Coromandel District Council said.
Power has been restored to nearly 300 customers who lost supply following high winds in the Hikuai area of the Coromandel Peninsula just after 8am today.
Acting Powerco head of network operations Mark Brown said the fault was caused by a branch going through the line.
Flooding at first made it hard for crews to make repairs.
Towler said some roads were slowly being opened as the tide was receding, but it was not the time to go sight-seeing.
"There is surface flooding and debris everywhere on the Coromandel and the Civil Defence advise people just to stay off the roads until much later this afternoon and into the evening when we can report ... that the roads have all been opened and cleared up."
West Auckland residents hit by flooding again
Parts of West Auckland have flooded in the latest heavy rain drenching the city.
Homes in Henderson, Swanson and Ranui are affected.
West Auckland is Flooding spokesperson, Lyall Carter, said the areas had been affected multiple times since the Auckland Anniversary floods.
He said people in West Auckland continued to relive the same nightmare every time storm clouds gathered over the Waitakere Ranges and they were exhausted and frustrated.
More to come as rain and wind watches remain in place
Metservice has issued a strong wind watch for much of the North Island from Auckland to the Kāpiti Coast, as well as in Marlborough and the upper West Coast.
Heavy rain watches are also in place in Auckland, Hawke's Bay and Canterbury with orange level warnings for the Coromandel Peninsula and Tai Rawhiti.
High winds at Kapiti Coast Airport caused a small plane to flip onto its roof this morning.
Airport manager Simon Lochie said it appeared the privately-owned aircraft, which was parked at the time, was not secured.
"The owner is down there now assessing the situation and working out how he's going to get it the right away up again."
Gusts of up to 50 knots had also caused some flight cancellations this morning, Lochie said.
Meanwhile, high winds in Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Manawatū and Whanganui have also resulted in power cuts today.
At 3.30pm today there were nearly 500 customers without power throughout Powerco's North Island electricity network area - with 221 of those in Rahotu, on the Taranaki coast.
MetService forecaster John Law said there was a risk that streams and rivers would rise rapidly as more rain fell.
"It is also worth bearing in mind that with a fair bit of wet weather around and windy weather as well it may make those driving conditions a little bit more hazardous as well."