Nelson bears the brunt of heavy rain from storm moving across the country
Saturday night's unexpected storm took down tree and power lines in Auckland
The Nelson region bore the brunt of a wild storm sweeping across the country on Saturday night and into Sunday.
Heavy rain and flooding trapped people in their homes, broke riverbanks and sent campers scrambling as the active front made it way down the country.
At the head of the storm, in Auckland, fire services responded to more than 200 weather-related calls between 8.30pm on Saturday and 7am Sunday.
Flooding in an orchard in Riwaka, Tasman.
More than 15,000 homes were left without power overnight as Aucklanders saw the first of the storm. By 3pm on Sunday 9500 households in Auckland were still without power.
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And the weather is still making its presence felt.
Heavy rain is expected for parts of the South Island, Mt Taranaki, the ranges of eastern Bay of Plenty and the Tararua Range, along with severe northwest gales for Wairarapa, Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds and severe southwest gales for coastal Otago and Banks Peninsula late Sunday and early Monday.
MetService duty forecaster Cameron Coutts said the wet and windy weather would start to ease off as it crosses southeast and over the South Island.
Flooding in the Golden Bay region on Sunday.
The weather also took an injury toll - a 40-year-old man was critically injured after a tree crushed a car on Auckland's southern motorway, near Drury, about 9.50pm on Saturday.
It appeared a tree had fallen and crushed the vehicle travelling southbound which carried seven people, a police spokesman said.
The southern motorway was closed to southbound traffic from the Papakura off ramp but reopened about 1am.
Flooding in Collingwood, Golden Bay.
Another person crashed their car to avoid hitting a tree which had blocked both lanes of the Coastal Highway in Appleby, Tasman just before 5am.
Police attended to the crash after the car rolled, but the person was not injured.
In the Thames and Coromandel region more than 5000 residents were without power on Sunday morning, according to Powerco.
A power line has fallen on Marsden Avenue in the Auckland suburb of Balmoral.
Blenheim escaped the worst of the storm, with light rain and not much wind.
However, people are hunkering down against wild weather in the Marlborough Sounds and across the Cook Strait.
A holidaymaker said a "huge amount of wind" blasted through the Sounds last night, and there were sheets of rain this morning.
Trees fall over a parked car in Nelson.
Severe north to northwest gales with gusts around 120kmh are expected in the Sounds today.
Stormy weather overnight and late last week has left Kaiteriteri camper Liz Davidson with a cracked rib, after the awning of their caravan collapsed from the rain.
The weather on Sunday was "horrific," she said.
An uprooted tree in Takanini on Auckland's North Shore narrowly missed hitting a nearby home.
"It was the worst I've ever come across."
Around 250 Canterbury homes were without power overnight, as a tree brought down a power line at Little River.
Power was restored to most homes by 9am.
Wild weather strikes downtown Auckland.
Orion reports about 35 homes near Duvauchelle remain without electricity.
MetService meteorologist Claire Flynn said a severe weather watch remained in place for Canterbury with gale force winds still possible, particularly on Banks Peninsula.
While severe weather warnings are in place for parts of Southland for Sunday, the wild conditions haven't hit yet.
In Invercargill, there was steady rain falling. Gale warnings were in place for Foveaux Strait.
There are no reports of any weather-related damage.
- Stuff
