"One minute I thought the house was going to blow in from the south side, and a few seconds later I thought the north side was going to blow in. Freaky," another said.
Another resident who had lived in the US Mid-West agreed: "That's what they usually sound like."
A resident from Pine Valley said it was the "loudest thing I ever heard" as their home was "hit full-on".
"Our fences got shredded, my car's been bashed in, the walls of our garage are gone, we have multiple big trees down on our drive and we can't leave.
"Our power lines are on the road along with the pole, and lines got ripped off our house."
"I love a storm but that was *** terrifying," another resident wrote.
Thunderstorms are increasing between #Whangarei and #Auckland, with some thunderstorms now affecting Auckland City.
— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) June 26, 2020
Residents also reported seeing the flashing lights and hearing chainsaws as fire crews swept in to clean up the mess.
Fire and Emergency NZ's Craig Dally said crews raced about the city responding to 24 calls for help in north and west Auckland from about 10pm last night.
Silverdale and Dairy Flat in north-west Auckland were hit first.
Then the heavy winds moved to Te Atatu, West Auckland and Waimauku.
Auckland could expect heavy rain and possible thunder at times through to tonight along with a high of 18C.
Sunday should then clear to fine spells and isolated showers with a top of 16C.
Northland and Whangarei, Tauranga and Hamilton and Rotorua in the south could all expect to be affected by the same weather system with heavy rain and thunder possible all day Saturday.
π§More rain for saturated areasπ§
Whitianga has received more than 400mm of rain in the last 30 days. That's more than...
Further south Wellington could expect milder winter weather with a few showers and cloudy top of 16C.
Christchurch in the South Island was set for a cloudy weekend and top of 13C today.
Invercargill in the far south, meanwhile, was set for a mostly fine day heading for a top of 10C with Queenstown expecting clouds, but no rain, and a high of 11C.