Weather: Vector on standby as heavy rain and strong winds due to hit North Island

Vector crews are closely monitoring weather reports as wild weather - including heavy rain and strong gusts - are due to hit the upper North Island.

The MetService has issued a number of severe weather warnings for strong winds and heavy rains for areas including Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Gisborne, Auckland, Great Barrier Island and Waikato from Cambridge northwards.

Rain accumulations of between 100mm to 140mm are expected in parts of the Coromandel Peninsula between 6pm and 11pm tomorrow.

In Auckland, strong winds are set to turn into severe gales gusting up to 120km/h in exposed parts of the city between 4pm and the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Heavy rain is expected in northern parts of the city later this afternoon and this evening.

Vector spokesman Marko Simunac said its response crews and storm management teams are ready to respond and are actively monitoring the latest weather updates.

"Strong wind gusts have the potential to damage powerlines directly or cause vegetation and debris to blow into lines.

"Cars colliding with power poles in the wet is also a possibility in this type of weather,'' he said.

Head-up North Islanders!

A subtropical low will bring heavy rain and strong winds to the upper north starting Mon and then continue south overnight into Tue. The heaviest falls are expected in the north and east.

Take care and remember to never drive through standing water. 💦 pic.twitter.com/wBoG5QAuH9

— NIWA Weather (@NiwaWeather) October 13, 2019

People need to be prepared if the power goes out suddenly, he said, as electricity providers sometimes shut down the power as a public safety precaution until its crews arrive on site.

"Our crews are trained to work in all weather conditions and at any hour - but there may be circumstances during which it is unsafe for them to begin or continue working to fix outages, for example, during high winds.''

Anyone who came across fallen powerlines should treat them as live at all times and should keep a safe distance, and report it to 0508 VECTOR immediately.

To check an outage in your area, visit: Vector outages

HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS
The latest Severe Weather information can be viewed at https://t.co/qHyE5zhh6X
The rain is set to become heavy this afternoon in Northland with a chance of thunderstorms in the east. Heavy rain then spreads southwards over Tuesday & Wednesday ^Lewis pic.twitter.com/GXZeVcYBhW

— MetService (@MetService) October 13, 2019