Weather watches and warnings are in place for much of the North Island and the top of the South Island.
Significant heavy rain and strong north to northeast winds are expected into Wednesday morning, with warnings of flash flooding and slips.
Several schools have been closed in Northland, and Auckland's Harbour Bridge was under an amber alert due to high winds on Tuesday afternoon.
MetService said the severe weather was caused by a front moving eastwards, and was expected to last into Wednesday morning
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