LIVE: Hipkins says Auckland floods are a result of climate change

Join 1News for live updates as wild weather continues to sweep across the North Island.

What you need to know:

Live updates

2.20pm: Here's a list of Auckland water tanker locations until 9pm tonight:

716 South Titirangi Rd

End of Tawini Rd

1 Cochran Rd, Oratia

Shetland St, Glen Eden

66 Avonleigh Rd, Green Bay - 24-hour service

Ceramco Park, Glen Eden - self-service

Two sites are available till 9.30pm

Corner Kotinga Ave and Puketitiro St, Glen Eden

Corner Withers Rd and Paewai Rd, Glen Eden

2.06pm: Fatboy Slim's performance at Stonyridge Vineyard, in Waiheke, will be rescheduled from Tuesday, January 31 to Thursday, February 2.

All tickets will remain valid for the new date.

People who are no longer able to attend the new date can get a full refund from Moshtix. Please allow five to seven days for refunds to be processed.

1.58pm: Four Wellington City Council building inspectors will be heading to Auckland to help assess homes and other buildings damaged by the floods.

Two staff members will head to the city tomorrow following a request from Auckland Council, while two others will travel north next week, Wellington City Council's chief planning officer, Liam Hodgetts, said.

"We are more than willing to send staff to Auckland – the city has been struck very hard – and we know Auckland would help us out if Wellington was hit by a similar major emergency."

1.51pm: A strong wind watch will be in effect for the Auckland Harbour Bridge from 12pm tomorrow until 4am Wednesday, triggering an amber alert and a possible red alert, the New Zealand Transport Agency says.

Under an amber alert, speeds are reduced and lanes may close. Under a red alert, all lanes on the bridge are closed.

Heavy rain is also expected from 6pm tomorrow until 7am Wednesday which could result in surface flooding.

1.48pm: Two birds at Auckland Zoo have died while other animals were evacuated amid intense flooding in recent days.

"The Zoo’s most impacted areas are close to Motions Creek," they said on Facebook.

"By Friday afternoon the water was rising to high levels, and our teams took a proactive decision to evacuate some of the animal areas near the creek to higher ground. This included the skinks, scheltopusiks and beaded dragons of Lizard Lane, American alligators and New Zealand reptiles."

By Friday evening, the creek "flowed over the top of its stone wall boundary and caused major flooding to the lower lying part of the Zoo – including most areas the creek travels".

"Fortunately, the vast majority of the animals in our care are safe and well. However we recovered the bodies of two small birds on Saturday – a zebra finch and a kotare – that appear to have been overwhelmed by the volume of rain and waterlogged and appear to be the only casualties of the storm."

The flooding has also led to "significant" damage to buildings, and there "has been loss of animal feed, equipment and office supplies".

The zoo will be closed for several days as the clean-up effort gets underway.

1.31pm: Gusts could reach up to 80-90 km/h from Tuesday afternoon in the north.

"Given the saturated soils, that is likely to fall to cause treefall more than normal," Griffiths said.

East coast bays, Whangaparoa and north of Orewa in particular may see "wind-damaged trees given the soil saturation".

1.26pm: Griffiths said we will see "some high-intensity rainfalls associated with thunderstorms".

"We will see some high-intensity falls – 25 to 40 mm in an hour, half an hour – which, no matter where they happen in the Auckland region, will cause localised flooding and impact.

"Our concern, of course, is that Auckland is really vulnerable to rain. We’re completely saturated, our rivers are up, groundwaters are up.

"It’s not going to look like Friday. However, it doesn’t need to."

1.18pm: MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths told reporters at a press conference this afternoon that today is the "pause day" for the wild weather in Auckland.

She says a heavy rain warning will kick in for the region around 6pm tomorrow to 6am Wednesday, "with the rain spreading in from the north".

"People in central Auckland and South Auckland, expect to see that rain somewhat later."

"We're looking at about the same volume of rain and again, the risk of downpours. You could expect to see 60 to 80 mm of rain to come in that period north of the [harbour] bridge.

"Places north of Orewa, we could see 80 to 120mm of rain in that region. This is the area that got hit hardest last night."

1pm: People are reporting on social media that they're stranded in Wellsford due to flooding.

A woman posted to Tiktok saying she is unable to leave her home at Waiteitei Farm.

12.45pm: Thunderstorms on the West Coast brought over 30mm of rain in just one hour this morning.

12.40pm: Photos from Kopu-Hikuai Rd in the Coromandel show the destruction caused by the floods.

12.20pm: MetService has given an update on thunderstorms set to spring up this afternoon.

11.40am: KiwiRail and Auckland Transport have given an update at a media conference in Auckland this morning.

AT Chief Executive Mark Lambert said there are currently 45 road closures or partial road closures left to be fixed.

He said extra time for travel is advised and people should rethink if they really do need to travel or not.

AT said it's implementing temporary bridges over the next two days.

Lambert added that seven roads reopened last night and the focus is now shifting to local and rural road networks.

He said the 14 buses that were stranded on Friday have all been recovered and repaired.

11.20am: Clean-up efforts are underway in Sunnynook on Auckland's North Shore.

Volunteers are helping those worst impacted by the wild weather.

11.10am: A 57-year-old man has been arrested after he was caught stealing from a flood-damaged vape store in Wairau Valley, Auckland.

Police said at 8.30 last night they arrested the man after receiving reports of "suspicious activity".

The man and a woman were allegedly seen putting a "significant" amount of products into a van.

10.50am: Fire and Emergency have said they are continuing to help people in Auckland, Waikato, and the Bay of Plenty with weather related call outs.

There have been 348 calls in the past 24 hours. 273 of these calls were from Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.

10:25am: Auckland Emergency Management says a pop-up community and agency information hub will be open at the Māngere Memorial Hall through to Friday 8am to 8pm. Needs assessments and support, including accommodation, are being provided.

10.10am: MetService have given an update on today's weather.

9.50am: NIWA has announced Auckland now recorded over 769% of its January monthly normal rainfall and over 38% of it's entire annual rainfall.

9.30am: State Highway 26 north of Te Aroha is now open but there is still some water on the road.

Motorists are asked to drive with extreme care in the weather conditions and avoid travel if possible.

9.15am: Several roads remain closed across the North Island. Waka Kotahi has given an update:

In the Northland region, SH1 Brynderwyn to Waipu is closed from the SH12 intersection to Waipu.

Motorists should expect delays with a detour via Waipu / Mangawhai. Freight and heavy vehicles are advised to detour via SH12. Light vehicles should detour via Waipu/Mangawhai.

In the Auckland region, SH16 Helensville to Waimauku is closed due to flooding near Bradly Rd.

NZTA are urging people to expect delays and use the detour available.

In the Waikato/ Coromandel region, SH2 from Mangatawhiri to Maramarua between Mangatawhiri Rd and Kopuku Rd. is closed due to slips.

There is a detour available and Waka Kotahi ask motorists to allow an extra 30 minutes travel time for the detour and expect delays.

SH2 from Pokeno to Mangatarata and SH25 between Coromandel and Whitianga are also closed.

SH25A from Kopu to Hikuai is closed until further notice following a large section of road collapsing.

The Tapu-Coroglen and 309 roads are also closed. There is a detour on State Highway 2 via Karangahake Gorge.

SH37 Waitomo, SH37, SH5 Napier-Taupo are also closed.

In the Taranaki region, the large drop out remains on SH43 Stratford to Taumarunui but the road is now open and under stop/go traffic management.

9am: The petition for Wayne Brown to be removed as Auckland Mayor has reached 8900 signatures.

8.30am: Footage has emerged showing the extent of damage in Titirangi after four homes were evacuated due to landslips overnight.

8.05am: Auckland Council's Rachel Kelleher says a total of 440 stranded cars have been towed and around 88 are still stuck on the roads.

Speaking at a media conference this morning, she says there was up to 60mm of rainfall overnight with extensive surface flooding.

Around 130 Council inspectors were out yesterday, 40 red placards, 151 yellow placards, and 366 white placards have been placed on homes.

There have also been 125 tree-related callouts since beginning of floods with 66 classified as critical and needing immediate attention, she said.

Kelleher said there is a potential for more bad weather tomorrow and Wednesday.

7.55am: AMI, State and NZI insurance have so far received more than 3500 claims for property damage and flooded vehicles.

New Zealand Insurance Council's Tim Grafton says it's an ongoing situation and there will be more claims.

He said AMI, State and NZI are just three insurance companies and the number of 3500 could be "at least doubled" to cover all claims being made across the country.

"We've got more weather coming through so we won't have the final number of claims for quite sometime," Grafton told Breakfast.

He says damage costs will be significant, " I don't want to hazard a guess at how much, but it is in no doubt the largest single extreme weather event this country has faced."

7.50am: Four properties were evacuated in Auckland's Titirangi last night due to slips.

Engineers are expected at the site this morning.

Police are unable to confirm the number of emergency call outs overnight.

7.40am: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the Auckland floods are a result of climate change.

Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Hipkins said: "Climate change is real, it's with us, it's having an impact on our weather, we are seeing more of these extreme weather events, we're going to have to deal with more of these extreme weather events in the near future and we need to be prepared for that."

He added: "It's a 1 in 100 year weather event and we seem to be getting a lot of them at the moment, and I think people can see that there's a message in that."

7.25am: The Maritime Union of New Zealand says the Kaitaki interisland ferry engine failure is concerning.

Maritime Union secretary Craig Harrison says finding out the cause of the failure is a priority.

He said the actions of the captain and crew of the Kaitaki were "commendable" in managing the situation.

"The failure of previous governments to invest in upgrading our interisland ferries has led to an ageing fleet where this kind of problem occurs.”

6.55am: Chlöe Swarbrick says Aucklanders "aren't out of the woods yet".

Speaking to Breakfast this morning, the Green MP for Auckland Central said there will be a time and a place to discuss the flood response, but for now the focus needs to be on keeping people safe.

“People cannot forget what has occurred here, and I think it’s also really important that we reflect on the fact that what we’re facing is a climate crisis.”

6.45am: Community advocate Dave Letele is calling for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to resign.

Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Letele said Brown is "out of his depth".

"This was his opportunity to really stand up and deliver and he just hasn't so I'd go as far to say he needs to resign over this".

6.30am: Passengers are being asked to wait for confirmation on their flight before travelling to Auckland Airport.

"Travellers are much better to get in touch with airlines or their travel agency via phone or online to reschedule flights, rather than seeking to rebook in person at the international terminal. Airline representation outside confirmed check-in times can be very limited," Auckland Airport said in a statement.

Only international travellers who are scheduled to fly today are asked to come to the terminal.

More than 25,000 passangers are expected to fly today.

6.15am: State Highway 26 has been closed 5km north of Te Aroha as the Waihou river has burst its banks.

Police are urging motorists to avoid travel in the area.

Background

Aucklanders are experiencing a flood-damaged city after Tāmaki Makaurau saw unprecedented rainfall on Friday.

Thousands of emergency service calls have been made and the Prime Minister is urging people to support each other.

The North Shore Civil Defence Centre was relocated to Massey University's Albany Campus from its original location at North Shore Events Centre on Friday night.

"Those who are displaced or need assistance can access the centre via the main entrance at Gate 1," Auckland Emergency Management said in a statement

The New Zealand Defence Force remains on the ground in Auckland.