Stormy Weather is the Forecast for Northern NZ- 8th July 2014

[JennyLeez]

STORMY WEATHER FOR NORTHERN NEW ZEALAND

A low is forecast to approach northern New Zealand today and then gradually weaken during Wednesday. This low is forecast to bring heavy rain to Northland as well as severe easterly gales which are now expected to spread into parts of Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula later today. 120 to 160mm of rain is expected about the eastern hills of Northland and also north of the Bay of Islands from around midday Tuesday to midday Wednesday, with locally intense falls possibly exceeding 25mm per hour for a time. Rivers and streams are likely to rise rapidly with surface flooding and slips possible.

Severe easterly gales are also expected over Northland today and Wednesday morning, with gusts of 140 km/h. This warning has now been extended to include the possiblity of severe easterly gales gusting 120 km/h over parts of Auckland (including Great Barrier Island) and Coromandel Peninsula, especially in the north. Winds of this strength have the potential to damage trees, powerlines and unsecured structures and make driving conditions hazardous. Note, further rain and strong winds are expected in Northland, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula through the remainder of Wednesday into Thursday morning, but should be of lesser intensity.
Metservice.com

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[Derek]

Definitely getting plenty windy up here in the Waitakeres, and I'd expect that the eastern side of the Auckland region to be copping more of it than here. 

[iomkiwi]

Max gust of 92 kmh here, max average just under 72 kmh (an all time record for me)

Power is out on Russell peninsula and in Whangaroa, also out in Kaitaia and I am sure in many other small pockets around the North.

Fire and police very busy and stretched dealing with downed trees and power lines, I see one of the Kerikeri fire appliances got called to Awanui - about an hours drive North (on a good day)

[Derek]

This is certainly a significant storm - we are experiencing a lot higher wind where we are compared to the one just a few weeks ago that caused so much damage. 
Looking at Vector's power outage map on their phone app (its worth getting), there are plenty of outages around here, so I think very likely we'll be without power later on.

[Derek]

Reports on News and in on twitter feeds say 12 houses with roofs blown off in Kaitaia.

[Derek]

Here's a screenshot of the current outages from Vector's app - the red balloon marks where I am

[iomkiwi]

heavy rain setting in now, current rain rate of 160mm/h, max rain rate was 215mm/h so far

[Derek]

We've made it through the night here at our end of the Waitakeres, the rain has not hit us, yesterdays's total was only 5.2 mm with nothing falling after around 7.30 pm
It is still very windy, though if anything it may have dropped a bit.
Power has stayed on - I've attached another vector outage map, their crews will be working long hours (in the app, the map view is zoomable, and you can click on any of the "lightning bolt" icons to get detailed info and updates for the specific issue)

[David]

Highest gust for Howick was 71 km/h. No damage - wind was not as bad here as was forecast. 11mm of rain so far for this system.

Also, yesterday's wind run of 529km broke my previous record of 476km.

[iomkiwi]

I kept power right through the event, was one of the lucky ones. If I lived a few hundred metres down the road I would still have no power from a tree that came down about this time last night.

A few all time wind records set - average of 71.7 kmh, wind run of 769.1 km. Also had a high gust for the year of 92.5 kmh, just a couple of kmh less than my all time record.

[Derek]

Wind is definitely easing now, and the rain hasn't come to much here.

Power outages all around, but we've stayed on.  I will need to call the power company and let them know that the pole on the road behind our place was moving from side to side as the lines swayed in the wind.  I remember now a few years back that a tree that fell resulted in it being taken out and the bottom section broke (its a concrete one) - they just banged it back up, supposed to have been replaced but never has.  I doubt it has even ½ metre length under ground - and it's soft ground there too...

[JennyLeez]

Not terribly safe Derek by the sounds of that