KEY POINTS:
Extreme spring weather brought chaos to parts of the country yesterday, causing flight cancellations, road accidents and widespread minor flooding to homes.
The long-range forecast for the rest of the school holiday is more misery to come as yesterday's "topsy-turvey weather" also left emergency services workers struggling to keep up in parts of the country.
Carla Salinger of Weatherwise Auckland said Helensville in west Auckland got the worst of the storm, with about 33mm of rain between 2pm and 5pm.
The storm lasted less than three hours in other parts of Auckland and about 25mm of rain fell.
In October last year 157mm fell in Auckland for the whole month.
The temperature was above average for this time of year before the storm - up to 21C in some areas.
It had cooled to about 15C after the downpour.
But, while Metservice says today's forecast is expected to be slightly better than yesterday, more high winds and thunderstorms are on the way.
That means parents struggling to entertain children during the school holidays might want to consider indoor activities until at least the end of the week.
Fire Communications Centre team leader Brent Dunn said firefighters received dozens of calls for help during the downpour.
Most calls were to roads and homes being flooded, mainly on the North Shore.
Hillcrest Court resident Merle Dean, 72, said she was lucky to escape property damage when flooding threatened her home in a block of North Shore City Council-owned units.
"If it were another two or three inches high it could go inside," she said. "We were concerned about our floor and our carpets."
All available fire engines from Ponsonby and throughout west Auckland were sent to the North Shore to help deal with the volume of calls and the Communication Centre was forced to go into "Multiple Incident Procedures", something that happens only during extreme weather events.
Earlier in the day the Police Communication Centre issued a warning to motorists to take care in the heavy weather, but there were numerous accidents.
By 6pm Inspector William Taylor said there were "a lot of multiple-vehicle accidents and debris covering the roads" due to the flooding.
Two occupants of a four-wheel-drive had a lucky escape when a 30m tree came crashing down on their vehicle in Whitford about 8.30pm.
Inspector Turepu Keenan of the police northern communications centre said the gum tree blew over and blocked the road. The vehicle's bonnet was crushed.
John Sweden, who lives directly across the road from where the tree fell, said: "I was watching the telly when I just heard this huge thunder-clap, it was enormous. I didn't know it was a tree until I went outside and saw power lines all over the place, down like spaghetti. It was lucky no-one was killed."
A major crash also closed the Manukau link to the Auckland Airport, causing delays.
A four-wheel-drive car collided with a truck along the busy thoroughfare shortly before 4pm, closing both lanes and leaving two people with minor to moderate injuries.
Albany helicopter company Heletranz flew about 10 "corporate people" in two trips from the Auckland Airport to Helilink at Mechanics Bay about 6.30pm yesterday.
The group, who had arrived at the domestic terminal on a flight from Dunedin, were supposed to be picked up by a company vehicle but it couldn't get through because of the road blocks Puhinui Rd.
The helicopter landed at the Auckland International Airport's helipad.
Airport spokeswoman Lucy Powell said it was unlikely flights would have been delayed for passengers affected by the accident.
"Operationally the flights will continue to depart on time regardless of what's going on with the traffic.
"They unfortunately can't wait for passengers."
In Wellington, gusts of over 120km/h disrupted commuter traffic and caused flight delays and cancellations, one from Auckland and one from Dunedin.
The strongest gust in the region yesterday was 128km/h, recorded on Mount Kaukau.
A severe wind warning for Wellington, Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay was likely to be lifted by today, but the Met Service warned wind gusts would not be far below the warning level - gusts of 120km/h-plus.
Met Service spokesman Bob McDavitt said the "topsy-turvey" weather was expected to bring cold southerly winds over the North Island tomorrow, which could bring a small amount of snow to low levels.
"This changeable and unsettled weather is typical of spring and is starting later than normal this year.
Mr McDavitt said the thundery showers were likely to continue on Thursday and in the weekend.
