Ferocious storm moves east 

The storm described as the most intense sub-tropical cyclone in the last decade to hit the upper North Island, has now moved moved off to the east of New Zealand and MetService has dropped its severe weather warning for Northland.
 
The Fire Service says they have received more than 1,000 weather-related calls over Saturday night.

People have been having trouble staying on their feet in some places as winds of up to 150 kilometres an hour blasted through parts of Northland and Auckland.

Trees are down, roads are closed due to falling debris and slips and there has been flooding.

About 50,000 homes were left without power in the Auckland region. Engineers have restored electricity to most of them but some power lines are still down. Lines company Vector says some homes will be without power for the next few days.

The Rodney District, Waiheke Island, North Shore, Auckland West, Helensville and Massey and Waiheke Island have all been affected.

A Vector spokesman says helicopters will fly along the high voltage feeder lines to see how much damage has been caused by high winds.

And the public is being warned to stay away from downed power lines. Powerco is working to restore power to about 24,000 homes and is expecting the majority to reconnected by Sunday night. But Powerco says with close to 40,000 of its customers hit with power cuts on Saturday, some will not be restored until Monday.

Areas affected include the Hauraki Plains, Whangamata, Waihi Beach, Whitianga, Coromandel, Tauranga and Manawatu.

And in the central North Island, blizzard conditions forced skifield staff at Turoa to form a human chain to get stranded people from the carpark into the main buildings.

Roads blocked

All state highways in Northland have been reopened, but police are urging motorists to take extreme care because of debris and flooding.

Slips, fallen trees and downed power lines had caused problems on many roads in the upper North Island after the storm.
 
In the Hauraki district, debris is blocking State Highway Two at Waikino.
 
In Hawke's Bay, State Highway two at Tutira is closed because of slips affecting the north and southbound lanes.
 
And snow is also causing problems with State Highway One through the Desert Road closed since Saturday afternoon and the Napier to Taihape road also closed.

Go to AA Roadwatch for the latest road conditions. 

Keep up-to-date with the Weather in your region on the ONE News Weather site.