The council is keeping a close eye on the river's water levels after recent downpours.

Bay of Plenty and Gisborne will continue to be hammered by bad weather tonight.

The "severe" cyclone is expected to batter Vanuatu with winds up to 130km/h.

After April's deluge, rainfall between now and July is set to be closer to normal.

Brrr...time to wrap up warm as temperatures could plunge by 5 to 10 degrees.

Heavy cloud and rain are likely to finish the week.

Fire and police are dealing with calls to flooding, downed trees and power lines.

People were packing their trolleys with non-perishables, food, and bottled water.

Enjoy the sun while you can, rain is back from Wednesday

Cyclone Debbie looked like "garbage" until one factor made a storm-chaser take notice.

Batten down the hatches, another southern storm bears down on the country.

Holiday makers heading for the beach today are being warned about big swells down the East Coast.

Bad weather is hammering the West Coast and drifting north today.

Temperatures around the country are expected to fall to the low twenties and high teens today after highs of up to 29C yesterday.

People across New Zealand have been basking in today's sunshine as the first weekend of summer did not disappoint.

A wetter summer season is on the cards for the upper North Island - but that doesn't mean people should go cancelling their Coromandel holiday plans.

A front made its icy way up the country, bringing with it snow, sleet and freezing cold temperatures with winds of up to 120km/h.

The sodden north is cleaning up after yesterday's rain, but more is expected today.

New Zealanders have been smashed by cold and wet weather with parts of the country blanketed in snow.

Ski fields around the country are experiencing their first rounds of snowfall for the year and some could be in for a snowier season than last year.

Wild weather which caused havoc across the North Island this week has made way for cooler temperatures and southerly winds.

Police said the body of the 80-year-old man was found near a car submerged in water, with its keys in the ignition, in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone.

Sunnier skies are expected for many next week, but Wellington has been warned of more heavy rain in the next day - another test for Wellington’s infrastructure.

The lobby group had lodged an appeal over whether the Northland Regional Council had jurisdiction under the Resource Management Act to ban the outdoor use of GMO matter.

The Metservice says it will have to change its rain gauge at Haast because it is “not responding well to periods of heavy rain”.

After years of threatening to inject its unwelcome wet and dry extremes into our climate, the chances of El Niño shaking up weather are now greater than ever, scientists say.

Winter is coming slowly in Auckland as May got off to an unusually warm start thanks to mild northerlies sweeping across the top of the north island.

Heavy rain and strong gales are expected to blast parts of central and southern New Zealand today.

Torrential rain will pound parts of the country this week as the remnants of the deadly storm that hit Queensland recently makes its way across the Tasman.

Gale-force north-easterly gusts of wind downed trees and signs, punched out office windows and tore vessels from their harbour moorings in Auckland today.