The thunderstorms and heavy rain currently making their way down New Zealand are wreaking havoc as they go - even causing a leak at Premier House.
MetService has heavy rain warnings in place for parts of the eastern North Island, and thunderstorms are forecast for many areas over Tuesday night.
But the excitement and spectacle of the thunderstorm didn't last long for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
On Tuesday night, she shared a photo to her Instagram story of fiance Clarke Gayford and daughter Neve looking out the window watching the thunderstorm. But just 15 minutes later, the scene at Premier House had dramatically changed and they had to clean up a leak.
"Moments later, the serenity ended with a fairly major leak. Not from the open window either, we opened that to scoop the water out," Ardern posted.
An accompanying photo showed Gayford in the midst of cleaning the wet floor as towels lay strewn about.
MetService's heavy rain warnings are in place until Wednesday, with some forecast to last until late in the evening.
A low is forecast to develop northeast of the North Island and move towards Gisborne on Thursday where it may become slow-moving for the rest of the outlook period, MetService says.
For Gisborne and the Wairoa District, MetService forecasts moderate confidence of warning amounts of rain on Thursday, then from Friday to Sunday, there is low confidence of rainfall amounts reaching warning criteria in the Wairoa District.
There are still some thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday afternoon and evening for many areas in New Zealand.
