Weather warnings in New Zealand’s North Island are starting to lift, as Tropical Cyclone Vaianu tracks away from the country.
Red and orange wind and rain warnings have been in place across much of the island since Friday.
All red warnings and most orange warnings have now expired or been lifted.
- READ MORE: Cyclone Vaianu: First impacts could be felt Saturday amid severe NZ warnings
- Live RNZ weather updates
Orange wind warnings are in place in Hawkes Bay overnight and in Tararua from 10pm Sunday, while Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Tairāwhiti have had overnight wind warnings downgraded to a yellow watch.
Metservice meteorologist John Law said the system was beginning to clear away.
“On the latest analysis, the central part of Cyclone Vaianu is now just off that eastern coast towards Hawkes Bay, with the winds now generally turning more southwesterly across New Zealand.
“We’ve still got some wet weather, particularly those areas east of Lake Taupō, but over the next few hours, we’ll start to find even that pulling away, as this whole system continues to move through.”
Far North mayor ‘grateful’
RNZ’s Peter de Graaf reports Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said he was breathing a huge sigh of relief after his district escaped serious damage from Cyclone Vaianu.
The district was the first to feel the effects of the cyclone on Saturday night, but the storm took a path further to the east than initially predicted, limiting its impact on Northland.
However, some areas, such as Whangārei’s central city, were lashed by more than 130mm of rain in a 24-hour period, and winds of 110km/h were recorded at Cape Reinga.
A buoy off the Bay of Islands recorded a maximum wave height of 10.8m on Saturday afternoon.
Tepania said the outcome was a huge relief.
“All of the reports that are coming in — and not just through our Emergency Operations Centre intelligence lines, but also the good old kūmara vine and our Kaitiaki Response Network on the ground — are showing us that the effects of Cyclone Vaianu have been very limited,” he said.
“Power outages, a few roofs that have blown off, but all in all, our roading networks made it through and rivers never breached warning levels. So I’m very grateful.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
APR editor | Radio Free (2026-04-12T10:57:07+00:00) Cyclone Vaianu: Damaging winds, heavy rain hit NZ’s North Island. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/04/12/cyclone-vaianu-damaging-winds-heavy-rain-hit-nzs-north-island-2/
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