Cyclone Cook: What you need to know

All weather warnings associated with Cyclone Cook have been lifted as the storm moves southward.

Thousands of homes were hit by power cuts overnight, with heavy rain and strong winds causing slips and bringing down trees.

MetService said there had been significant rainfall in the 12 hours to Thursday evening, including 64mm in Tauranga, 65mm in Waipapa and 37mm in Whakatāne.

READ the full story or follow our LIVE blog for updates as they happen. Here is a summary of what you need to know:

Traffic and travel

• Check NZTA's latest traffic and travel information here.
• Motorists were warned to avoid travelling in Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti as many roads in the regions were blocked.
• Three state highways in Eastern Bay of Plenty were closed in places because of fallen power lines.
• SH25 between Thames and the town of Coromandel was likely to remain closed all weekend, from Tararu to Preece Point.

Severe weather warnings

• Check the latest severe weather warnings for your area here.
• All severe weather warnings associated with Cyclone Cook have now been lifted.

Civil Defence

• The local state of emergency in the Thames-Coromandel area has been lifted.
• The Bay of Plenty region-wide state of emergency has been lifted, but a state of emergency remained in place for the Whakatāne district.
• Bay of Plenty Civil Defence advised residents to monitor its Facebook page for more details.

Bay of Plenty

• Whakatāne District Council said people evacuated from their homes in Ōhope could now return.
• Whakatāne Mayor Tony Bonne told RNZ on Thursday evening that trees were down, roads were closed and some power was still out.
• However, fears of widespread damage at high tide, which triggered evacuations in Ōhope and other low-lying parts of the district and wider region, did not come to pass.
• Whakatāne District Council has been providing specific updates for Edgecumbe, which was evacuated due to flooding last week - including cordon and local road closure maps.
• Horizon Networks said 1500 people were without power in Bay of Plenty. It said many powerlines were down across the district and some customers should prepare to be without power for up to three days.
• More than 150 properties in Tauranga, Te Puke, Papamoa and Waihi were without power, according to Powerco, while Unison said a small number of Rotorua properties have had their power cut off.

Hawke's Bay

• Unison said about 15,000 homes in Hawke's Bay, Napier and Hastings had been without electricity because of the storm.
• Unison said about 3000 homes would be without power overnight.

Gisborne / Tairāwhiti

• About 650 properties across the Tairāwhiti region still had no power at 6.30pm on Friday, and about 350 homes were expected to be left without power overnight.

Coromandel

• Thames-Coromandel Civil Defence said the worst of the storm had passed but it was still asking people to stay away from the area, due to expected strong winds and heavy rain overnight.
• Civil Defence centres have opened at the Coromandel St John Ambulance Centre, Whitianga Town Hall, Tairua Hall, Whangamata Town Hall and Thames Civic Centre.

Wellington

• Power was cut to about 200 homes in Wairarapa.

Waikato

• Residents in Matamata and Waharoa were asked to conserve water urgently due to heavy rain causing flooding at one treatment station, causing damage to pumps.

Tasman

• The Motueka Valley highway was blocked 20km north of Tapawera and people needed to travel via Richmond to get to Motueka.
• There were also several slips on the Takaka Hill.

Check the Whakatāne District Council's map of cordons in Edgecumbe: