Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Power line and weather woes look set to continue for parts of the North Island, with work continuing to restore Northland's supply and storms forecast for some places.
Transpower says the power feed to the whole of the Coromandel Peninsula was cut on Sunday morning, leaving about 27,000 properties without power.
It has since been restored.
A transformer tripped about 8:45am, affecting the feed from the Kopu substation. Frustrated comments from residents awaking to no power flooded Facebook community posts.
Storm warnings or watches have been issued for the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, parts of Taranaki and Waikato, and parts of Tasman.
Weather has been creating problems for power line workers trying to set up a temporary transmission line to Northland, after a major high voltage pylon fell on Thursday cutting electricity supply to tens of thousands in the region.
The team planned to begin the final phase to get the new line going on Sunday morning, transferring conductor wire onto the new tower. "Momentary" power cuts are possible for some parts of Northland between 2pm and 2:30pm on Sunday as it carries out the work.
Transpower said there was sufficient supply for weekend demand for Northland through other circuits.
Workers setting up a temporary power pylon to supply power to Northland Photo: Supplied/ Transpower
Meanwhile, a cluster of heavy rain and thunderstorm alerts were posted by MetService for parts of the North Island and Tasman.
Heavy rain watches and warnings are in place for the Coromandel Peninsula and Bay of Plenty, with forecasters warning thunderstorms and downpours are possible until midnight Sunday. Some areas in the east could have up to 120mm rain in that time, with peak rates up to 25mm, amounts that could slips, surface flooding and rapid rises in waterways.
And thunderstorms and heavy rain have lashed parts of the Waikato and Taranaki through Sunday morning as the wet weather moved east across the country.
A severe thunderstorm warning was in place for New Plymouth, Stratford and areas in the north of Taranaki and Waikato.
MetService meteorologist Alwyn Baker said at its peak intensity the rain exceeded 20mm an hour.
"Five-ish mm an hour is what you'd call heavy ... when you get to 20 - 25mm an hour that's starting to go okay that's getting onto torrential - that's really, really heavy rain."
In Tasman, police asked motorists to only venture onto the roads for essential travel only, due to extreme weather, strong winds and heavy rain.
There had been reports of flooding in some places in Tasman, they said, as well as multiple slips on Takaka Hill.
