Firefighters and police were responding to reports of surface flooding in and around Levin last night, just a day after a disastrous deluge in Wellington.

Aucklanders have had to welcome both Prince Harry and cold winds and rain to the city today.

Insurance claims for flood damage caused by yesterday's deluge in Wellington are expected to rise after the next downpour, AA Insurance says.

Drivers are heeding official advice and keeping away from Wellington highways today after torrential rain closed main routes with flooding.

Police said Dr Paul Hill's car was found underwater in Bracken St, Petone, with the keys still in the ignition.

A Lower Hutt man who was caught on film verbally attacking two foreign-looking men on a Wellington bus has been fined and ordered to do community work.

Early morning commuters had their travel disrupted badly after a diesel locomotive fire at Paekakariki this morning.

The man who tore women's teeth out with pliers while he was having sex with them believed there was consent and thought he was helping them, a court has heard.

Philip Hansen has plead not guilty to 11 charges, including assault and sex charges, some of which involved using pliers to pull out teeth from three separate victims.

The trial of a man who has been accused of tearing women’s teeth out with pliers while having sex with them, began at Wellington District Court today.

Te Papa never does anything by halves. The new exhibit, 'Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War', to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli landing, is an extraordinary event.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Wellington today for the Anzac Street Parade which weaved its way through the city around lunchtime.

A collection of Sir Peter Jackson's original and restored World War I vehicles rolled through Wellington ahead of an Anzac parade tomorrow.

Site enabling works on New Zealand's biggest new infrastructure project, Transmission Gully, begin this month.

While there was an appetite for a lower North Island super city, the Wairarapa should not be included within it, Wellington's Mayor Celia Wade-Brown told the Local Government Commission today.

A Lower Hutt man who was caught on film verbally attacking two foreign men on a Wellington bus last week says he is "not a racist".

The man accused of killing an Upper Hutt mother and injuring three others in an axe attack late last year has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

There is "sympathy" and "forgiveness" within the Muslim community for a man who was caught on camera making offensive comments, a religious expert says.

A Lower Hutt man has been arrested after a video of a racist rant on a Wellington bus against two young men who appeared to be Muslim was published online.

Rusty wires caused a lifeboat to fall from its sling on a cargo ship in Wellington Harbour, injuring a crewman.

Three teenagers have been identified as those involved in a train surfing incident in Upper Hutt on March 8.

A teenager who admitted to carrying out a vicious attack on an elderly couple while they slept last year has been sentenced to almost six years in prison.

Fog in the capital is causing disruptions to flights this morning.