MYRDDIN GWYNEDD

Myrdinn Gwynedd had only just parked his car and grabbed the shopping before he heard a "crack" as a tree fell across the windscreen.

About 1100 Auckland properties are without power on Saturday as heavy rain and strong winds bring trees and power lines down.

Severe gales gusting to 120kmh were expected to hit Auckland on Saturday, just two-and-a-half weeks since a storm with hurricane force winds knocked out power to 180,000 homes in the region.

Peak gusts were measured at 117kmh on Tiritiri Matangi island and 94kmh on Auckland's Harbour Bridge in the hour to 2pm, MetService said. 

Laingholm, west Auckland resident Myrddin Gwynedd​ was taking his shopping into his house about 1.30pm when he heard "an almighty crack". 

WILL WILSON/SUPPLIED

Fewer than three weeks since powerful winds brought down trees across Auckland, causing widespread damage, the city is being battered by more severe gales.

He turned around to see a manuka tree split in half, crushing the car he had just parked. 

READ MORE:
* Aucklanders still without power 48 hours after storm and more strong winds on the way
* Brace yourself for more bad weather across New Zealand

"Two minutes earlier I was sitting in the driver's seat," he said. "Timing."

The tree shattered the Nissan's windscreen and caused both side panels to buckle. Gwynedd had to cover the driver's side with a tarpaulin to keep water from coming in.

He said it was more a hassle than anything, but had already booked the car in to the panelbeaters on Monday. 

His home in the Waitākere Ranges had not yet lost power, but he had torches at the ready and the gas bottle for the barbecue filled just in case. 

"I'll be hunkering in indoors under a duvet with the pussycat." 

Fire and Emergency crews had responded to 48 weather-related callouts as of 5pm, a spokesman said. 

Most of these were reports of trees down, pockets of flooding, and power lines down or arcing. 

Calls were largely coming in from Auckland, but around seven were from the Hauraki Plains, the spokesman said. 

A tree came down onto the lines, causing them to arc and catch fire in the central suburb of Mount Roskill shortly before 1pm.

Earlier, a fallen tree blocked the southbound lane of State Highway 1 near Wellsford. 

By 4pm, 1100 homes were without power, a Vector spokesman said. 

Damage had been caused by trees or branches falling onto power lines, in one case pulling a power pole down, and including a car crashing into a power pole, he said. 

Crews were responding once it was safe to do so: "while we are attending to all known outages, further strong winds and heavy rain are expected this evening and we are monitoring the situation closely." 

Those wanting to see where power was out, and when it would be restored, were out of luck.

Lines company Vector's outage map was still down after it was revealed a glitch had inadvertently revealed the names, email and physical addresses, and phone numbers of its customers.

Wait times for calls to Auckland Council were "longer than usual" due to high call volumes, Auckland Emergency Management said. 

The Fullers ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island at 8pm had been cancelled due to the forecasted weather conditions, the website states. 

WET WEEKEND FOR MOST

Most of the country was in for a wet Saturday, with MetService expecting the heaviest rain in Northland, Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, northern Gisborne, western Nelson, Canterbury south of the Rakaia River, and Westland.

Other areas at risk of heavy rain on Saturday were Dunedin, North Otago, northern Canterbury. Waikato and Taupo could have heavy rain overnight.

Heavy rainfall could cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly, MetService said. 

Driving conditions may be "hazardous" as surface flooding and slips were possible. 

Along with Auckland, severe gales could hit Northland, and eastern Waikato about and west of the Kaimai Range.

Severe gale easterlies were also possible in parts of the North Island on Sunday, and rain was expected to continue for much of the North Island and the north and east of the South Island.

Rain had been falling in Northland and Canterbury south of the Rakaia since early Saturday, MetService meteorologist Peter Little said.

"Essentially there are strong northeast winds and rain heading down from the north, while in the south we have a cold front, which is affecting the southern part of New Zealand."

That cold front had brought some snow to the Crown Range in Central Otago. "There's a reasonable coating of snow on the road at the moment," Little said about 8am.

The heaviest band of rain was moving through Northland early on Saturday. That brought 79mm of rain to Kaikohe in 12 hours, including 32mm in the hour to 7am.

As of 2.30pm the heavy rain warning for Northland had been lifted.

At the exposed Kaeo weather radar station, a gust of 113kmh was recorded in the hour to 7am, and Tutukaka Harbour had a 98kmh gust.

There was a strong wind warning in place for Auckland from 2pm on Saturday to 1am on Sunday. 

About 8am the strongest gust around Auckland was 83kmh in the Hauraki Gulf. "It's going to pick up in the next couple of hours," Little said.

Exposed areas in more northerly parts of the region were expected to get the strongest wind, while southern parts of Auckland were somewhat protected by the Coromandel Peninsula.

"The heavier rain doesn't push down into Auckland until later this morning and this afternoon," he said. "There's a risk of localised downpours, particularly in northern parts of Auckland there could be large hourly totals with potential for surface flooding."

The rain band moving through Northland on Saturday morning was expected to have the heaviest rain, but more rain would follow and localised downpours were possible as further bands moved through during the afternoon.

In the last 18 hours, Coromandel stations measured 51.8mm of rain, Franz Josef had 69.2mm, and Balclutha had 46.8mm, MetService said. 

In parts of Canterbury, 15-16mm of rain fell between early morning and 8am on Saturday.

"The intensity's expected to increase through the later part of the morning and into the afternoon. It's quite a long, prolonged rain event, so going essentially the whole day."

Cantabrians could expect another 60-80mm in addition to what had already fallen, totalling between 140 to 160mm. 

Snow was also expected around higher parts of State Highway 8 over the Lindis Pass, with more falls possible during the afternoon and then again overnight.

Temperatures were expected to stay low in much of the South Island during the weekend, with Christchurch getting no higher than 13 degrees Celsius, and 11C the top for Dunedin.

Wellington also feels the chill once southeasterlies arrive, expected late Saturday morning. The temperature is expected to start dropping from 16C, getting down to 12C by 6pm. At least Wellington isn't expected to get much, if any, rain during the daylight hours on Saturday.

 - Stuff