Cyclone Gabrielle: How it's playing out across the North Island

North Island residents are sheltering from the onslaught as Cyclone Gabrielle makes itself felt.

RNZ's reporters have been speaking with those affected across the motu.

Northland

Te Aupouri Peninsula, at the very northern tip of the country, is dealing with power outages, flooding, fallen trees and some cyclone damage.

Chief executive of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, said she had been fielding calls from whānau from as far as Te Kao and Te Hāpua.

"Big winds, big winds. Flooding, and power outages eh, cut off comms," she said of the state of the peninsula.

"We're another hour or more from Kaitāia so you've got that sense of isolation."

Kapa-Kingi said whānau were out clearing trees and checking on kuia and kaumātua, and several marae in the area opened their doors last night, though she wasn't sure how many people stayed.

"People are concerned. When will this end? When will our power come back on? What are the conditions going to be like out on the road when I dare to step out my door?

"We've contacted every one of our kaumātua whānau just so if there's anything they need we're there and we can provide that and send out the young trained ones that can negotiate the roads.

"There is a level of resilience which often, actually, can mean we get ignored because we get on and get through, [but] that's an issue."

- Jamie Tahana

A resident on Northland's Karikari Peninsula said people had endured a long night of ferocious winds which had downed trees and damaged roofs.

Povey Moses said residents were hunkering down, with power out to most of the peninsula, which juts out into Doubtless Bay west of Kaitāia.

"We had some very strong winds last night, our power grid took a hammering," Moses told RNZ.

"Everyone's just tying everything down, especially stuff on the decks. There's a few houses that have had their roofs sort of torn off, so we've had family out there with tarpaulins and four-by-six pieces of wood."

"We were at a tangi yesterday, our whānau were moving her from her marae over to her urupā and a tree fell in the way. It was lucky that in the convoy we had a chainsaw to chop that tree up and then pull it off the road."

Povey Moses said they were expecting more bad weather, with high tide this afternoon expected to dictate whether the peninsula gets cut off.

"Usually high tide causes the most chaos up here, with the tide coming over the roads and blocking off a few bridges. We're sort of waiting for the high tide later this afternoon and, without giving away too many secrets, hopefully a few scallops come up too.

"There's got to be some silver linings to these big, dark clouds, right?"

In Whangārei, Cindy Bedggood and her family were the first people at the McKay Stadium evacuation centre after it opened yesterday afternoon.

She said one other person had arrived since then.

- Soumya Bhamidipati

Tairāwhiti

In Tokomaru Bay, all eyes are on the coast. Swells of 7-12 metres are forecast, the beach is littered with forestry slash leftover from the last storm, and high tide is due at 1.20pm.

The sea looked angry and the Mangahauini River was already full, said Lillian Te Hau-Ward, a hapū representative and Civil Defence co-ordinator in Tokomaru Bay, about a one-and-a-half hour drive north of Gisborne.

"Whānau, this isn't the cyclone. The cyclone is still to come.

"Our Mangahauini River is already charging, as I would say, and with these seven to twelve metre swells forecast [it's] highly likely that a lot of those swells will go up our waterways," Te Hau-Ward said.

"We're encouraging whānau that live along those rivers to evacuate to Tuatini Marae."

Already, up and down the coast, marae have opened their doors and several families have already decided to evacuate at Ruatōria, Tikitiki, Te Araroa, and Waipiro Bay.

"In each community we have marae open, we're encouraging whānau throughout the coast to relocate during the day - it's too dangerous at night time.

"Our main concern is those [tidal] surges, there's a lot of slash on our beaches so when those big swells actually start up a lot of that slash will end up on the road."

For now, State Highway 35 remains open. But Te Hau-Ward said authorities were discussing whether to close it soon.

- Jamie Tahana

The owner of the Uawa holiday park is concerned about the height of the Hikuwai River, which is already pushing its banks.

A local state of emergency has been declared for Tairāwhiti as Cyclone Gabrielle closes in.

Dion Milner owns the holiday park near Tolaga Bay and said flooding was a real possibility, with his grounds already sodden.

"[The rivers] all lead into the Uawa, and it is a big catchment. It's just the nature, if you're by a big river in this kind of weather [flooding] is going to happen."

Milner said it was windy and raining at the camp but the worst of the storm was yet to come.

Tairāwhiti farmer Dan Russell told RNZ Cyclone Gabrielle looked to be one of the strongest he had seen in the 20 years he had lived in the area.

Russell farms at Puketiti Station just inland from Te Puia Springs.

"We're looking at the Hikuwai River bridge there at Willow Flat. I've watched that come up about five or six metres this morning".

- Jemima Huston

Coromandel

Whitianga resident Steve Miller says he is sandbagging his property for the first time ever as he braces for the cyclone's full impact.

Coromandel Peninsula has a red heavy rain and strong wind warning in place until Tuesday morning due to Cyclone Gabrielle.

Some Whitianga residents have been preparing to evacuate.

Miller, who lives on the beachfront on Buffalo Bay Beach Road in Whitianga, said there was "quite a big flood going on" this afternoon.

Normally between his property and the ocean there was a small reserve, Mother's Brown stream and a set of sand dunes.

"But it's pretty much water from my front gate right through to the sea at the moment."

He said he had prepared for Cyclone Gabrielle by sandbagging the doors on the bottom level and moved important items to the rear of the house. He had never had to sandbag the property before, even when another cyclone came through several years ago, he told Afternoons.

"Nothing like what we're doing now."

He said a lot of traffic had been driving quickly through the floodwaters and causing waves but police were now on hand supervising the traffic.

"There's a lot of debris right down the middle of the road all the way basically from the mouth of Mother Brown's up the north to the bridge ... pretty much a 500 to 600 metre stretch of the road covered with debris, sticks and logs and everything else right up to my driveway."

He was hopeful that the imminent high tide meant the water had peaked, however, there were still surges coming up from the stream.

Miller said he had received information about self-evacuation but for the moment was staying put to protect his property.