Heavy rain warnings have been lifted for upper areas of the island, but many roads remain closed this evening. In South Auckland, power was restored to most people after outages affected thousands this afternoon. "This rain band is affecting Auckland, extending all the way up to Northland, and down almost as far as Hamilton. "So there are more bands of rain that are due to come in later, as well." More than 170 schools and early learning centres have been closed because of severe wet weather, the Ministry of Education says.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 04, 2017 20:26 UTC