Twister leaves trail of destruction in Bay of Plenty

Two small tornados have ripped through the Bay of Plenty region, bringing down power lines, uprooting trees and flooding some roads.

A trail of destruction has been left after a twister struck between Kawarau and Te Puke and another between Manawahe and Otakiri.

Police report several roads including state highways around the region are affected.

MetService says the Bay Of Plenty will see more thunderstorms and high winds over the weekend.

Forecaster Eric Brenstrum says one district of Tauranga received a downpour of 70 millimetres of rain in an hour.

Heavy rain has also caused problems in the Wellington region, causing surface flooding on roads.

Grays Road in Paremata, State Highway 2 in Lower Hutt and the bottom of the Ngauranga Gorge are affected.

Police say there are also very long delays for traffic trying to go north on State Highway 1, south of Levin. Queues are now all the way back to the weigh bridge at Plimmerton.

There are problems on State Highway 5, the Napier to Taupo road.

Bad weather has closed State Highway 63 at the top of the South Island. Heavy rain is affecting the route, between St Arnaud and Blenheim. The road is expected to remain closed until this evening.

- NEWSTALK ZB