Wild weather lashes north, Air NZ cancels more flights

Wet, windy and wild weather is set to continue for swathes of the country today.

Parts of the South Island are set for a reprieve from the rain following warnings overnight and throughout yesterday afternoon.

An orange heavy rain warning for Westland has lifted but remains in place for Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty including Rotorua, and part of inland Marlborough.

MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Waitomo, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, and Gisborne until 9pm tonight. This could cause downpours, flash flooding, slips and make roads more dangerous.

In Nelson, State Highway 6 Rocks Rd reopened around 2.20am following its earlier closure for approximately five hours.

"All highways across Nelson/Tasman and Marlborough are currently open and weather conditions are forecast to improve," said NZTA Waka Kotahi.

However, road users in the area are urged to use caution on this route and drive to the conditions following flooding and fallen trees affecting SH6 Lower Buller Gorge to the intersection with SH65.

Keep an eye on the weather — MetService

MetService meteorologist John Law told Breakfast it was a "good day to be keeping an eye on the weather radar", as the deluge moves to the North Island.

"The good news for the West Coast is the rain is easing away," he said.

"Northland, Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel should keep up to date with watches and warnings as well as emergency services and Civil Defence teams," he said.

Law said gusts could get up to about 90km/h and there could be "intense bursts of rainfall" throughout the morning as the band of rain moves across.

He said there is "the potential" for surface flooding if the heavy rainfall comes through.

"Evacuation orders are a really difficult one but I think the best advice is to keep up to date with those on the ground."

"We have got those severe weather warnings for places like the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel, so those are the places we'll see some heavy rainfall today.

"It is looking like the worst of the weather for places like Auckland will be this morning, and we've still got thunderstorm watches and risk of heavy rain and wind," he said.

Number of flights cancelled

Air New Zealand has confirmed there have been 52 cancelled flights today, as of 5.30pm.

The airline's chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said many of the cancellations stemmed from weather and engineering issues.

Yesterday it experienced 46 cancellations on the domestic network.

"Our airport and customer care teams are working hard to reaccommodate disrupted customers and ensure they reach their destinations as soon as possible. We are asking any disrupted customers for patience as seat availability is limited to some locations, but be assured our teams are working hard to get them to where they need to be.

"Today is the last day of the school term, and our network is exceptionally busy, with 52,000 customers travelling with us. We advise all our customers to allow plenty of time to get to the airport safely and to stay updated on the status of their flight either on the Air NZ app or on our website," Geraghty said.

"We know that weather-related disruptions can be frustrating, but everyone's safety is always our number one priority."

Geraghty said there may still be some disruptions "as we contend with the tail end of the storm" but the "vast majority" of the company's 566 flights intended for takeoff today were able, or would be able to operate according to schedule.

Some homes in Haast still without power

For the past two days 50 homes near Haast have been without power after rough seas in the storm washed away a section of powerlines.

Now NZ Energy's confirmed another kilometre of power's been lost due to another five power poles being lost to the sea yesterday.

Spokesperson David Inch said power won't be restored until tomorrow night or Sunday but that relies on favourable weather and sea conditions.

Six poles have been located in the Waiatoto lagoon, 3km south of where they were.

Inch said: "Have recovered those as they will be needed to re-erect the line."

Additional lineman have arrived to help restore the connection.

Evacuation alert lifted for Spring Creek

Marlborough Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) has advised an evacuation alert for residents in Spring Creek, near Bleheim, has been lifted.

"The weather forecast has changed and while rain continues to fall, the Wairau River has reached its peak at 1200cu metres per second which is considerably lower than was modelled on the available information last night," CDEM said.

"Civil defence volunteers will be advising Spring Creek residents on the ground this morning."

'Through the worst of it' - Westland District mayor

Speaking from Hokitika, Westland District Mayor Helen Lash said residents are "through the worst of it".

"We had some self-evacuations last night in Hari Hari just due to the extent of surface flooding and the current that was there with that."

She said there are "nine or 10 slips on the road that we know of" and structural damage to the road between Fox and Franz Josef glacier.

"Some power [is] out in [the] Jackson Bay area and communication's down in Franz Josef," she said.

"We've come through the night, rivers are receding and everyone is feeling quite at peace."

She said residents should stay put if they don't need to travel as Waka Kotahi have "all their teams out checking on everything as soon as first light".

"We're anticipating we may be able to have some things free by midday but I'm not going to confirm that until I hear back from Waka Kotahi.

"We have got debris on the road, a bit of a slip and logs and timber come down and you just don't want to be hitting that at speed," she said.

Lash said people won't be able to travel between Franz and Fox glacier today.

"Getting everything from Franz Josef north open is what we're aiming to achieve by late today if possible."

Latest weather watches, warnings

An orange heavy rain warning is in place for Coromandel Peninsula until 3pm today; Bay of Plenty, including Rotorua, until 10pm tonight; and the Bryant Range, also inland Marlborough west of Blenheim and north of the Awatere River, until 12pm today.

A heavy rain watch is in place for Auckland and eastern Waikato until 3pm this afternoon; Taupō until 6pm, Mount Taranaki from 8am to 6pm tomorrow; Tasman northwest of Motueka from 6am to 3pm tomorrow; and the Tararua Range from 12pm to 9pm tomorrow.

A strong wind watch is in place for the South Taranaki coast, coastal Whanganui, Manawatū and the Tararua District from 1pm to 10pm tomorrow; Coromandel Peninsula until 2pm today; and Taihape until 2pm today.

Meanwhile, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Waitomo, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, and Gisborne are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9pm tonight.