Auckland power cuts may take several days to fix for some as thousands of properties remain without electricity

Below are 1 NEWS NOWs live updates of the severe weather that lashed Auckland overnight and today.

1.30pm

That ends 1 NEWS NOW's live updates as Auckland Emergency Director of Civil Defence tells media: "There will be, I guarantee, some learnings out of this event".

1.16pm 

"There will be, I guarantee, some learnings out of this event," John Dragicevich, the Auckland Emergency Director of the Civil Defence says.

1.15pm 

70 cellphone towers were down at 11.45am this morning, according to Vodafone. 

1.10pm 

Vector and Civil Defence is currently working through a backlog to restore power to homes affected by the storm.

1.07pm 

The Auckland Civil Defence press conference has started. 

12.20pm

Civil Defence will hold a media conference at 1pm that 1 NEWS NOW will stream live.

1NEWS reporter Jenny Suo took this picture of a house in Bayswater damaged by a fallen tree.

12.03pm

Vector's outage field crews are aware of close to 400 outages throughout the region, affecting around 105,000 homes and businesses ranging from south of Papakura through to Wellsford.

More than 100 field outage staff are spread throughout the region responding to lines down, faults, power outages, and other damage to infrastructure.Extra outage response crews have been brought in from outside of Auckland to assist with the extremely high number of call-outs. So far they have restored power to approximately 75,000 people. However, the damage to the network is extensive and widespread and it may be several days until power is restored in some areas.

11.48am

Full list of Auckland schools closed today:

11.40am

One Twitter user has tweeted picture of a damaged KFC sign in Auckland.

11.15am

Vector says its outage map has been overloaded by requests and taken offline for the time being. A spokesperson said they are "working on getting it sorted". They advise people to download the Vector app on iOS or Android instead.

11.10am

After the storm last night 120,000 properties across Auckland remain without power today.

The power outages come as forecasters and authorites have been criticised for an apparent lack of warning about the storm .

10.43am

Auckland residents should call 09 301 0101 to report trees down on public land and around the roading network, Auckland Council says.Care must be taken around downed power lines. 

Auckland Emergency Management Director John Dragicevich says contractors have been out all night to remove trees that are impeding power restoration work.

10.25am

MetService are forecasting more strong winds for Auckland, Northland the Coromandel Peninsula and Waikato from 9pm tonight through to 3am Friday morning. Click here for more

10.10am

Niwa says a peak gust of 146.16km/h gust was recorded on their Sky Tower climate station at 9.20pm last night

10.00am

Auckland road update

West Auckland
Henderson Valley Road is CLOSED between Pine Ave and Parrs Cross Road.
Woodside Road in Massey is also CLOSED

North Auckland
No known issues.

Central Auckland
Maskell Street in St Helliers is CLOSED.
Temple Street in Meadowbank is CLOSED.
Gillies Ave is CLOSED between Kohia Street and Kimberly Road.

East Auckland
The corner of Marne Road and Settlement Road in Papkura is partially blocked.
Corner of Charles Road and Glenbrook Road in Karaka is partially blocked.

South Auckland
No known issues.
 

9.30am

Auckland Zoo is closed due to damage from fallen trees.

There are reports of damage at Auckland Airport with a smoking deck reportedly destroyed at the international terminal.

9.20am

Update on Auckland bus services:

Southern & Eastern trains are operating between Manukau & Britomart

Buses replacing trains between Swanson & Henderson. Trains are operating between Henderson & Britomart on Western line.

Delays & cancellations are expected to continue throughout the day.

Diesel trains will operate between Pukekohe and Otahuhu.

9.00am

The wild weather is causing flight disruptions at Auckland Airport

Air NZ spokesperson says:

There will unfortunately be significant disruptions across our network today due to the storm and the temporary closure of the Auckland airport runway which affected many of our flights last night. A number of domestic and international flights due to land in Auckland had to divert to other ports.
Our Operations team is fully focused on getting customers to their destinations and cannot provide a tally of customers or flights impacted by the weather.
Customers due to travel today are advised to consult the airline’s Arrivals and Departures page for up to date information.

Jetstar says:

We cancelled seven services yesterday due to Auckland weather and the debris on the Auckland Airport runway caused by the weather.
Two other flights were diverted due to the conditions and were delayed landing into Auckland.
There are likely to be a few delays today while we get the schedule back on track.
 

8.26am

Vector advises round 110,000 homes and businesses are still affected by ongoing outages however this number is constantly changing as power is restored.

School closures around Auckland: Northcote Primary, Pt Chevalier Primary, Rutherford College and Westlake Girls High.

8.24am

Pictures continue to come in of the damage caused in Auckland by the strong winds last night including this toppled tree in Massey.

8.10am

Powercut cuts continue to affect the Auckland region with tens on thousands without elecrtricity. Rutherford College and Westlake Girls High School are both is closed today due to no power.

7.52am

All Auckland ferry services are operating including Northcote services after Northcote Point Wharf was earlier closed.

Train update here:

7.38am

The severe winds lashing Auckland over night reached 213km/h at Manukau Heads.

7.29am

Among the trees that have fallen around the city, one has come outside TVNZ in the central city.

7.15am

Aucklanders are urged to be careful on the roads with traffic lights, motorway signage not working, surface flooding and storm debris on the roads.

Please only travel if you have to and approach uncontrolled intersections with caution and observe normal give way rules, Auckland Transport urges.

All motorways across the Auckland network and the Auckland Harbour Bridge are open.

The following local roads have partial closures: Henderson Valley Rd near Parrs Rd, Henderson; Woodside Rd, Massey; Temple St, Meadowbank: and Maskell St, St Heliers. There are reports coming in of a tree blocking part of Gillies Ave in Epsom.

Most train services are operating this morning.

Western Line:
All Western Line services will start and terminate at Henderson. Shuttle buses are operating to Henderson

Pukekohe Shuttle:
Services are operating

Southern, Eastern & Onehunga Lines:
Services are operating with delays because of power outages

Ferry and bus services are operating but there may be delays because of possible debris in the water and on the roads.
 

7.00am

Multiple roads around the Auckland region are closed, Auckland transport advises. Full list is here