Police are urging people to adjust their driving to wet conditions after a fatal crash this morning.

Warnings of more gale force winds and heavy rain have been issued as a deep low moves east across the North Island this morning.

Wild weather was last night lashing the upper North Island as heavy rain and high tides combined to keep authorities and residents on high alert for more coastal flooding.

A woman whose body was found burning by a remote Waikato road was alive when she was set on fire.

Police believe they have identified a woman found on fire on Thursday evening, and that an accelerant was used to start the blaze.

Police are tonight still trying to identify a woman whose burning body was on the side of the road in Waikato overnight.

Police are appealing for help identifying the body of a young woman found on fire near Huntly last night.

The family of a pregnant woman who was killed when her epileptic partner drove at speed into a Hamilton car yard are angry he has escaped a jail sentence. Riki Kelly admitted he had not taken his medication three days before the crash.

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

An 11-year-old boy received serious burns after petrol from a lawnmower exploded in the sleepout where he and a teenager were sleeping.

Four whales stranded at Port Waikato yesterday are to be buried in sand dunes just metres from where they lay.

Four adult whales have died after beaching themselves at Port Waikato but Conservation Department staff have successfully refloated a fifth.