Earlier today, three people were rescued from a home in Penrose after a 25m tree trapped them in their bedrooms.
Bob Morrison, senior station manager at Mt Wellington fire station, said they were called to the scene about 11.15am.
"A tree had fallen and caused quite substantial damage to the building," he said.
"We were able to extricate three persons via windows and make the scene as safe as we can."
Morrison said one woman suffered minor injuries from the debris falling on her back.
She was treated by St John on the scene.
In Mount Maunganui, a mini tornado ripped the roof off a garage.
Police said they were receiving reports of "mini tornadoes" and "gusts of wind" which pulled the roof off a garage in May St, Mt Maunganui.
A number of residents in the Bay of Plenty were reporting minor flooding and accidents caused by today's weather, police said.
"We've had an extraordinary large volume of calls which we would normally anticipate during an event of this nature."
Northern fire communications manager Scott Osmond said the bad weather had begun to ease off, and was now heading east.
He said one or two buildings in Tauranga city had minor damage, and at Papamoa Beach some houses were damaged in strong winds.
Between Tauranga and Papamoa, the fire service had attended around 10 weather related events, Mr Osmond said.
"That particular front is heading east quite fast. It'll be off the east cape pretty quickly too."
Earlier today MetService issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga. The warning had since been lifted.
MetService warned that thunderstorms could be accompanied by damaging wind gusts and possible tornadoes.
Wind gusts of this strength had the potential to break branches from trees, damage roofing, and make driving hazardous especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.
Heavy winds had also flipped over two light aircraft at Ardmore Airport, 32km south of central Auckland.
Clevedon resident Matt Archer said a third plane had been pushed into other aircraft after ''a huge gust'' blew through about 11.20am.
He arrived at the airport after the planes were toppled and was warned away by a man on site because of fears of a fuel spill.
''He said there was a huge gust of wind that came out of nowhere."
Archer, 41, also described the dramatic scenes he witnessed while driving to the airport.
"There was all of this carnage on the road. Trees and leaves, rubbish all over the place...it was like someone had just stripped the trees and spread the leaves all over everything. It looked a little bit like a snowdrift in some places."
Emergency services flooded
Emergency services have also been flooded with calls of roofs being blown off buildings as heavy winds batter the city.
It is understood a tornado, described as small and weak, hit Pt Chevalier before blowing across the North Western Motorway about 10.45am.
A police spokesman said emergency services were currently dealing with a number of weather related incidents.
"Between police and fire we are pretty busy with high winds and people in unfortunate situations."
He said in particular, motorways around the area were being "hammered".
Northern fire communications shift manager Scott Osmond said fire services had attended over 100 weather related incidents in Auckland.
He said fire services had attended jobs in west Avondale, Henderson, through the central area of the city, and down towards Papatoetoe and Papakura in the south.
Between 12 to 15 residents had called in to report damage to their rooves, he said, with the rest for trees and power lines that had come down in the wind.
He said the message to residents in the Auckland area was simple - "stay safe".
Mini tornados hit the city
A Manurewa resident said a mini tornado hit their front yard about 11.10am.
"My partner watched it outside and my nephew and I pretty much freaked out and held onto each other," said the resident.
"It was loud and it sounded like the windows were going to smash from all of the plants and stuff hitting the windows."
Deane Vipond described watching a tornado almost touch down near his home in the Auckland suburb of Pt Chevalier just before 11am.
He was looking out his west-facing window in Berridge Ave when he spotted a tornado forming about 100 metres away.
"There was one helluva lot of wind and you could clearly see the funnel coming down out of the sky. I thought 'oh my god, we are going to get smashed here' ... I've never seen one that close before. The trees were bent one way on one side of the house and the other way on the other side."
He called for his 15-year-old daughter, Beau, but in the 10 seconds it took her to reach him the tornado had disappeared back up into the sky. He estimated it was about 15 metres wide at its base.
The tornado, which caused no damage to his property, came after a ''horrendous'' burst of rain, Vipond said.
Roads remain clear
Roads remained clear around Auckland despite this morning's weather bomb which tore off rooves and bought down trees.
"Things are actually looking pretty good," The New Zealand Transport Agency's Auckland media manager Sarah Azam said.
Some minor slips and fallen trees meant traffic was a little slower than usual in some areas, Ms Azam said.
The road was still open on SH1 at Maromaku, but the speed limit had been reduced to 30 km/h after a slip came down on the road.
There was also a slip north of Thames on SH25, Ms Azam said.
"Around Auckland itself there are lots of trees down but no major problems, all roads are open, there is no significant flooding on the state highways."
Traffic around the region was free flowing, although as people returned home from the school holidays this weekend, the Transport Agency predicted it would become more heavy.
"Obviously we would expect there will be more traffic as people head home from school holidays.
"We would encourage people to allow extra time for their travel, remember to drive to the conditions, watch following distances and remain patient.
"We want everyone to get where they are meant to be safely."
Power restored
Power has been restored to 1500 homes and businesses after huge outages across Hillcrest on Auckland's North Shore this morning.
Crews from Vector attended the scene about 10.30am and have since been able to restore power.
"A feeder went at Hillcrest affecting about 1500 customers," Vector spokeswoman Sandy Hodge said.
"We are working to restore this and it is believed a power line was affected by a combination of heavy rain and wind."
In anticipation of problems today, Vector had rostered on extra crews, she added.
"We have experienced a few other weather-related outages elsewhere today but fortunately nothing too major."
About 400 other customers had been affected by less serious outages across Auckland this morning due to high winds and rain, Hodge said.
Stormy weather set to clear
Weather Watch said roads across the region had also been affected by debris and surface water in this morning's stormy weather.
Head weather analyst Philip Duncan said the front was now clearing the city.
"It arrived on time and is clearing a little ahead of schedule. Now we're seeing the worst of the weather crossing the Hauraki Gulf and into Great Barrier Island and Coromandel Peninsula."
While pockets of damage were being reported right across Auckland, Duncan said it was important to note that most properties had come through unscathed.
Yesterday, Weather Watch predicted there would be a risk of a small tornado or localised wind damage as the active front passed through.
As of today, no tornadoes had been confirmed, however there were reports of winds swirling in all directions and "rain that was going upwards", Duncan said.
He said at their peak, wind gusts were estimated to have reached between 110 to 130 km/h.
In Auckland, drizzly showers and increasing dry spells were expected throughout the afternoon, before showers and blustery winds once again arrived later today and this evening.
Duncan said there were three phases to the weekend weather.
"First this narrow but very active front which is crossing northern New Zealand from west to east.
"The second feature will be more wind, rain and showers from the Tasman Sea as the low moves across the North Island and central New Zealand tonight.
"The third feature is already affecting Southland, in the form of an Antarctic southerly which spreads north tonight and on Sunday, clearing skies for many regions as the day goes on."
Weather Watch advised Kiwis to monitor rain radars and keep an eye on latest forecasts, warnings and weather news in their area.
Civil Defence has warned of a severe weather event for Auckland about 11am.
It advises people not to travel, but to drive to the conditions if travel is essential.
During the storm, people are advised to:
• Stay up to date with weather forecasts.
• Report flooding to council.
• Ensure a torch, radio and spare batteries are to hand.
