Wicked winds are whipping the upper North Island this morning, bringing relentless rain to Northland, Coromandel and Te Tairāwhiti.
Orange, heavy rain warnings, are in force for those areas with 29 millimetres of rain falling in the Gisborne Ranges in an hour.
MetService recorded gusts of more than 140-kilometres-per-hour near Cape Reinga last night, and gusts nearing those speeds persisted throughout the night.
Tessa Guest has the details.
