Violent thunderstorms and damaging, tornado-like waterspouts — what's next?
Well, forecasters say much of Auckland's wild weather is over, at least for now.
Meanwhile, the clean-up of the damage caused by a tornado which whipped through the waterfront on Monday night has begun. Workers at the Ports of Auckland spent yesterday sorting out mess on the wharves.
Repairs to The Cloud on Queens Wharf started after a roof panel was torn off and a side door broke when high winds hit the waterfront late on Sunday night.
Spokesman Robbie Macrae said the cost of the clean-up and repairs was likely to be at least several hundred thousand dollars.
The Cloud after a mini-tornado hit Auckland's waterfront. Photo / Tom Dillane
Neighbouring Shed 10, which was also damaged, is expected to reopen before the next cruise ship arrival on August 25. The Cloud will reopen ahead of its next scheduled event in mid-September.
One couple told One News their 60ft (18 metre) catamaran Rosella flipped in Monday night's storm. Andy Stewart, who owns the yacht with wife Viv, said they couldn't believe the news: "I came down yesterday and checked all the lines and made sure there were double lines on due to the stormy weather around, but they reckon we had winds through here over 200km/h, so it just tore everything to bits and took off."
A worker trapped in his car when a shipping container blew onto his vehicle was discharged from hospital yesterday and was doing "all right".
About 30 containers were blown over at Jellicoe Wharf and the Fergusson Container Terminal. Port staff used a crane to restack them.
Several yachts were damaged or sank in last night's storm. Photo / Melanie Homer
At the peak of the storm, two maritime police officers bravely stopped a 200-tonne ferry slamming into a wharf. John Burridge told Radio New Zealand he was helping people injured by flying furniture at a restaurant when he saw a Sealink car ferry drifting freely.
It was about 50m from Captain Cook wharf when he and colleague Kevin Stone attached a tow-line from their 40ft rigid inflatable boat (RIB) and pulled the vessel slowly into the middle of the harbour.
"It was a very surreal moment, I was standing on the wharf initially when I saw it, and moving quite quickly with the wind down the harbour.
"And when our RIB turned up and we got on board, there was only two of us on our 12-metre RIB. It's got twin 225 outboard [motors] on the back. And it was a bit of a David and Goliath moment," he told RNZ.
They held the boat for 35 minutes until Coastguard volunteers and Ports of Auckland tugs arrived to guide it back to the ferry terminal.
Damage to the exterior of the venue. Photo / Tom Dillane
MetService meteorologist Melissa Oosterwijk said the stormy weather was expected to ease across most of the country but there would still be rain.
"It will just be a lot less intense compared to what we have seen these last few days," Oosterwijk said last night.
Fine spells and light showers will cover much of Auckland today with a high temperature of 14C. Thursday and Friday will be much the same, with similar conditions in Northland and Waikato.
But a heavy swell bringing waves up to 8 metres is making its way to the east coast of the North Island.
And down south, a polar chill from Antarctica has been making its way up the east coast causing some places to experience a dramatic temperature drop. Oosterwijk said Timaru dropped 6C within 10 minutes last night, from 15C to 9C, and Dunedin fell from 12C to 6C.
Despite the chills, sun is forecast for most of the South Island today.
