Fire and Emergency had a hectic Thursday night as wild weather wracked the upper North Island, with one township experiencing 45 callouts in 12 hours.
The torrential rain turned serious when four people needed to be rescued after their car got trapped in flood water along the Hikuai Settlement Road in the Coromandel just after 8pm.
Fire and Emergency shift manager Paul Radden told Newshub the motorists were helped from danger and then treated to prevent them becoming hypothermic.
Waikato and the Coromandel Peninsula were pelted by heavy rain and high winds overnight resulting in what Radden says was an unusually busy night.
After the rescue Radden says the township of Te Aroha received a whopping 45 call outs over 12 hours.
"Things like roofs lifting, trees lifting, powerlines down,"
"The volunteer crews were flat out - they do a great job so hopefully they can get half a day off today!" he told Newshub.
He said to receive so many calls for such a small area was unusual.
"That amount would normally be spread out over Waikato and Coromandel so to have that many in quite a small area is odd".
Gale force winds ripped trees down and flattened power lines causing power cuts in almost 150 homes in Te Aroha.
Torrential rain brought slips which closed three sections of State Highway 25 - two of which remained closed through until Friday.
But the North Island's woes are not over - a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Kerikeri with heavy rain expected.
Approximately 70mm fell on Friday morning, with more expected throughout the day.
