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The thunderstorms which caused a series of twisters in Taranaki and Wanganui last night are now moving north.
Storms are forming offshore across Northland, Auckland and the Waikato and conditions could be right for more tornadoes, Newstalk ZB head weather analyst Philip Duncan said.
A severe weather warning from MetService said a low in the Tasman Sea was expected to track across Northland early this afternoon and Auckland this evening.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms ahead of this were due on Northland from late this morning.
A state of emergency was declared in the New Plymouth district last night after a series of tornadoes there left thousands without power and homes severely damaged.
Early assessments from Insurance Council representatives put tornado damage in New Plymouth and Oakura alone at $7 million and rising.
Loss adjusters arrived in Taranaki this morning and have already identified about 50 houses as having sustained at least 80 percent damage.
Some have been completely destroyed while some cars have been crushed by fallen trees.
The council said early indications were that damage in New Plymouth amounted to about $2 million, with another $5 million estimated from Oakura. Those figures were expected to rise.
It was reported late this morning that water supply plants in South Taranaki have been forced to close and the entire southern region is running on water from reservoirs. Residents are being asked to conserve water.
Police said about seven tornadoes hit the region in Oakura, Egmont Village, Inglewood and the Waitara area during an electrical storm about 5.30pm.
A twister in Aramoho, Wanganui, ripped a bus shelter from its concrete foundations and knocked over fences and trees.
In Northland, heavy rains are expected later this afternoon and Metservice forecaster Oliver Druce said: "there's a risk of an isolated tornado."
Taranaki Civil Defence said up to 50 houses were damaged in Oakura, where a tornado went straight through the town. Some were up to 80 per cent damaged and many were uninhabitable.
"It is total carnage," said mother of two Pip Johnson, 37, who lives 5km from Oakura.
"I was on the road and saw the tornado swirling towards Oakura.
"When I was driving I could feel the force of the wind against the car. I had the kids in my car, aged 6 and 5, and they were crying and saying, 'What are we going to do, mum?'
"Afterwards I just drove into the village and there were trees lying everywhere. Some houses were on the beachfront and pretty much gone altogether. Others had roofs ripped off them.
"One couple told me you could see wheelie bins being tossed into the air, kids' trampolines being sucked up, the lot. There were powerlines and cables all over the road."
Taranaki Civil Defence spokesman Rusty Ritchie said one woman had been injured and an unknown number of people trapped in a vehicle by power lines on the corner of Wiremu Rd and Ihaia Rd towards Opunake.
He said the state of emergency would stay in place as long as required.
"We will be assessing things on a day-by-day basis."
Mr Ritchie said about 8000 homes in Oakura, Waitara and further north at Urenui were without power last night although some were likely to have it restored.
Network company Powerco said this morning power had been restored to about 4500 of 7000 customers in the region.
Mr Ritchie said welfare centres had been set up in the worst-hit area of Oakura but many people were probably staying with relatives.
The Oakura fish and chip shop was making sandwiches for people who had missed out on dinner. Twenty people offered up to 100 beds in their houses for those with nowhere to stay.
The Fire Service said up to 40 houses needed tarpaulins.
Powerco network operations manager Ross Dixon said that by 10pm power had been restored to about 2500 of the 7000 consumers whose power was cut following the tornadoes.
Damage to the network included broken lines and downed poles and there had been a number of reports of lines down across roads.
Lightning strikes had also caused faults.
Heather Ryan was leaving the local Four Square in Oakura when she saw a "dark, low cloud which looked like a heap of smoke".
"It was uncanny and very frightening. The wind hit and I saw a huge ball of fire from the power pole just explode in front of me. The noise was horrendous and I saw all sorts of debris flying around me."
Two more tornadoes passed over her house on Pitcairn St, cutting off the power supply.
"I wasn't here when it happened, thank God. We are all pretty shaken but at least our house is still here."
Nina Kircher, 15, was babysitting three under-10-year-olds at a house on Wairau Rd when "everything went black".
"It was a little bit like a horror movie. I have never heard wind like that before and there was lots of thunder and lightning.
"The children were really frightened and so was I but I told them to stay calm ... The doors opened and closed and windows were opening."
Teacher Steve Ruddlesden, 63, from Oakura, said: "I was in the bathroom. I heard a tremendous roaring noise outside. I looked out and saw the trees were bending over really badly and potted plants were being thrown around.
"The house started to shake. It's a two-storey house. My son, who is 21, was upstairs and I shouted to him to get downstairs into the corridor with me.
"You could feel the pressure building up on the windows and they were starting to flex. I decided the corridor was the safest place, away from any glass.
"The roaring got louder. I looked out through a side window and it had got very dark but you could see the cone of the tornado. It was going to the left of Wairau Rd.
"We saw tremendous bolts of what looked like lightning coming up from the ground, flashes of bright blue shooting skywards. It was flash, flash, flash. It could have been lightning or power cables exploding as they hit the ground. Within five or 10 minutes it had gone and the blue sky reappeared."
David Skurr, who lives 7km south of Oakura, drove into the village to check on friends' children who were being babysat because he was unable to reach them by phone.
"There was a fair bit of debris and a number of emergency crews out. Police were directing traffic around the worst areas. There was a police van with a spotlight, shining it on the houses, checking on people to make sure they were okay.
"There were groups of people milling around outside their houses, trading stories about what they'd seen and heard. Everyone in the village's power was out.
"It's the closest I've ever seen to chaos. It was pretty scary, I'm sure for heaps of people."
Mr Skurr and his wife were first alerted to the tornado about 5.30pm when they had a power cut at their home.
"It was gusty where we were but [the tornado] must have come in quite quickly just into Oakura and done its thing. We thought we'd better start checking on friends but we couldn't get hold of anybody, that's when we realised it was serious."
* Civil Defence says anyone requiring assistance as a result of the tornadoes should ring 0800 779 997.
- Edward Gay, Maggie McNaughton, James Ihaka, Alanah May Eriksen, Keith Perry, NZPA, Wanganui Chronicle and Newstalk ZB
