The worst weather appears to be over for Auckland, but the city remains under a local state of emergency after a day of torrential rain.
Most areas across the region were hit by rainfall of up to 35 millimetres an hour, causing flooding across some roads and creating gridlock on main routes.
MetService has lifted the severe thunderstorm watch for Auckland and is on track to lift the heavy rain warning this evening.
Meteorologist Georgina Griffiths says the back edge of the rainfall is nearly through Auckland and the risk of the high intensity downpours has reduced, but the Bay of Plenty is in for a rough night, Griffiths says.
Look back over Tuesday's weather updates: