Areas of Auckland and beyond were yesterday inundated by floodwaters. Here is what happened in some of the worst affected areas.

I've had a fascination with tropical storms since I was a kid. I love so much about them. Their unpredictability. Their power. Their names. (Hurricane Igor last year has got to be one of the best).

Tropical systems Vania and Zelia will merge as they head for New Zealand from different directions.

New Zealand may be whipped by the remnants of two tropical cyclones which are expected to merge on Tuesday. Cyclone Vania has been downgraded to a tropical depression, but is moving south.

We are more familiar with El Nino, but La Nina cycles have left an imprint in Australia and NZ too.

New Zealand could face strong winds and rain from a tropical cyclone battering the Pacific Islands with winds of up to 225km/hr.

Christchurch's Boxing Day aftershocks and the recent wet weather have seen more than 1000 claims lodged with the Earthquake Commission.

Major South Island roads remain closed by flooding after a storm that swept through New Zealand yesterday.

A major storm has swept right through the country, leaving warm, summer temperatures for the rest of the week.

A popular beach was blasted by rain and blustery winds yesterday, causing some campers to cut short their holidays and leave.

Entire Queensland towns have been inundated and more could go under in a deluge that's swamped the state makes its way towards the sea.

Mass evacuations are under way across flooded Queensland with disasters declared in the inland towns of Theodore, Dalby and Chinchilla.

Winter in Belgium's Ardennes will forever be linked with Nazi Germany's last great offensive of World War II.

I was having a discussion with someone the other day who predicts the weather in more of an alternative way than I do and was claiming that winter is still well and truly with us.