Home alone with no readily available food or heating, police found four children in a darkened, dirty house, lit only by a computer screen's glow.

A kayaker who capsized in wild Northland weather last night was embarking on his usual 10-minute commute home from work.

Severe rain and wind warnings and a drop in temperatures have been issued for parts of the South Island and lower North Island this weekend.

Cooking oil left burning on stoves has caused serious burns to an elderly lady and left a young family homeless in two separate house fires in Whangarei over the weekend.

A brief hail storm that covered the ground in Whangarei seemed to come out of nowhere, said a long-time resident.

The search for more Queensland fruit flies will be wrapped up by Easter Sunday providing no more of the pests are found in Whangarei.

No further Queensland fruit flies have been found since the potentially devastating pest was detected in Whangarei this week.

The unborn child of a woman who was seriously injured in a car crash in Whangarei last night has died.

The discovery of a male Queensland fruit fly in Whangarei has sparked a major biosecurity alert. Up to 50 Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff were in the city.

National MP for Whangarei and former Cabinet Minister Phil Heatley says he will retire from politics at next year's election.

A 36-year-old has been found dead at a house in Northland in what police are treating as a homicide enquiry.

A teenage girl appeared to be tied up and gagged in the front passenger seat of a car near Whangarei yesterday.

Donna McIntyre escapes the city on a campervan holiday.

Police have warned retailers about an "erratic and highly strung" offender who robbed a Whangarei dairy at gunpoint yesterday.