Police are urging people to avoid non-essential travel as gale-force winds strike, with gusts of between 130km/h and 150km/h expected in some parts as the storm reaches its peak around lunchtime and early afternoon.
Many parts of the North Island and the upper half of the South Island have been hit hard already - the deluge has seen several households evacuated in Wellington overnight as landslides hit the area. Many roads are closed and surface flooding has been reported in some areas.
Strong wind warnings have been issued for Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Great Barrier Island, Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Tararua, Waitomo, Wairarapa, Wellington and Marlborough.
In Auckland, heavy winds led to the Harbour Bridge being closed at 9.30am, with motorists told to use alternative routes to get across the city. The wind is already gusting to more than 100km/h. In Wellington, high winds are disrupting flights.
WeatherWatch's Philip Duncan said the gusts were intense, with the risk of power cuts as trees fell victim to the wind. Some places had already seen gusts of more than 150km/h.
Power outages have been reported in New Plymouth, Kaitake, Kaupokonui, Hāwera, Normanby and Okiawa this morning due to high winds, the Taranaki Emergency Management Office has reported. Power is also out in parts of Northland and the Waikato.
"[We] are asking people in areas impacted by the bad weather to avoid non-essential travel," police said in a statement on Sunday morning.
Heavy rain battered the lower North Island and the upper South Island last night and these areas are seeing more heavy rain today.
MetService said in the last 12 hours, Wellington recorded 109mm of rain, Lower Hutt 126mm, Kelburn 86mm and Wellington Airport 81mm. There have also been 121mm of rain in Masterton, and 130mm in Takaka Hill (Nelson).
There have been more than 130 weather-related callouts overnight across the North Island.
MetService meteorologist Stephen Glassey said the worst was still to come, with former Cyclone Dovi expected to make landfall between mid and late morning - latest forecasts have it hitting land in the northern Taranaki/Waitomo area.
South Island
Police in Marlborough are reporting surface flooding, tree fall and debris on the roads and urge people to delay travel while clean-up is under way.
Canterbury is experiencing localised flooding and State Highway 1 between Kaikōura and Waipara is closed due to flooding and slips. A detour is in place.
Rural Communities Minister Damien O'Connor has unlocked Government support for farmers and growers impacted on the West Coast and top of the South Island.
"We're making $200,000 available for the local Rural Support Trusts and Mayoral Relief Funds to call on to help farmers and growers recover, with the majority on support efforts for the West Coast," he said.
"The funding will help farmers and growers across Buller, Grey and Westland districts along with Nelson/Tasman and Marlborough districts, many of whom are facing a huge clean-up after the wettest February on record triggered widespread flooding.
"Floodwaters caused by two severe weather events in the space of a week have damaged infrastructure, farm buildings, and paddocks, left feed crops submerged and washed away bales of winter supplementary feed."
A state of emergency remains in place across the Buller district on the West Coast.
Hundreds of people remain isolated north of Westport, cut off by slips and damage to State Highway 67, and support and medical supplies have been delivered by helicopter.
"The Government is closely watching the impact of Cyclone Dovi across the country today and will provide further support as needed," O'Connor said.
Wellington, Wairarapa
Police said there were several landslips affecting houses in the greater Wellington region:
• A Houghton Bay home was damaged by a landslide this morning;
• A landslide came down against a house and road in Plimmerton with several other houses evacuated as a precaution;
• A large slip came down across three lanes of SH2 (Western Hutt Road), Korokoro in Lower Hutt just before 12.30am. The northbound lanes are blocked and diversions are in place. The occupants of a house at the top of the slip were evacuated.
Two other roads have also been closed - a slip has closed State Highway 58 between Paremata and Haywards near Wellington. The slip was reported around 1.16am.
Fire and Emergency shift manager Belinda Beets says the most severe callouts of the 50 for central fire crews related to landslides that caused problems for property owners.
She says firefighters were mainly pumping water out of homes and making sure people were safe.
Wairarapa has a number of road closures in place due to slips, water breaking the banks of the Waipoua River and trees down. There is also localised flooding in streets throughout Masterton township.
A Carterton man called Emergency Services about 3.30am after his vehicle became trapped in deep water flooding Kokotau Rd. The man was able to get out of the vehicle and was not injured. The road is now closed.
The Waihenga Bridge, between Featherston and Martinborough on State Highway 53 in Wairarapa, has been closed until further notice due to rising water levels, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has reported.
The bridge was closed just before 1am.
Northland
Around 5000 people are without power in Northland, and it could be out for some time, possibly into Monday.
Fire crews in the north of the country have had 86 weather-related callouts from Cape Reinga to Waikato between 6pm and 6am.
The wild weather brought down trees across the roads throughout the Northland District with more than 35 weather-related incidents reported to Police. This included reports of a tree falling and damaging a home in Kauri, Whangarei.
Police also received reports of several boats breaking free from moorings at Russell and Opua.
