Northland, Auckland and Coromandel remain under red weather warnings, with forecasters urging people not to be complacent - the worst of the storm is yet to come.
In Northland and the Far North thousands of homes have no electricity, and bad weather is hampering efforts to repair power lines.
The cuts are also affecting some mobile phone towers.
Electricity providers say more outages are inevitable and it may be several days before some connections are restored.
Metservice says winds which have already been very strong will be picking up for some areas today and rain will intensify as the cyclone moves south.
Kathryn speaks with Far North District Council Mayor Moko Tepania and Northpower CEO Andrew Mcleod.
Cyclone winds have caused major damage to the Northpower network, much of it from trees falling through lines. Photo: Supplied / Northpower / Facebook
