Live: Severe thunderstorm hits Kaipara, Auckland after rain passes over Far North

Violent thunderstorms are moving across the Auckland region with lightning strikes knocking out power supplies and disrupting travel.

A red alert went out for Kaipara, Auckland City, Waitākere, Franklin, Rodney and Albany about 3pm and is in place until just after 4pm.

Follow our liveblog for the latest:

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in force for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

MetService says the weather radar detected severe thunderstorms in the Auckland Region. These severe thunderstorms are moving towards the southeast and are expected to be accompanied by torrential rain.

Torrential rain can cause surface and/or flash flooding about streams, gullies and urban areas, and make driving conditions extremely hazardous, it said.

• Share your weather pics and vids with us iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Power is out in some areas of Auckland including parts of Birkdale, Riverhead, Albany and Waitoki.

As of 3.30pm there were two significant power outages in Northland, but it was not yet known if they were related to the thunderstorms.

One, in the Kerikeri Inlet area in the Far North, was affecting 261 households.

The other, between Paparoa and Maungaturoto in the Kaipara District, had cut power to 178 homes.

Heavy rain in Northland

A band of heavy rain passing over the top of the Far North has so far caused no significant flooding, Kaitāia's fire chief says.

In fact, Craig Rogers said every farmer in the district and every homeowner relying on rainwater tanks would be delighted with the downpour after an unusually dry spring so far.

"We've had a good bit of warm rain, with thunder mixed in. It's not enough but the farmers will be happy."

Rogers said the rain peaked around 1pm and had now eased to showers.

The rain was light enough now that he was able to go back to his golf after taking shelter at the proverbial 19th hole.

"We just sat it out," he said.

Around 2pm the MetService rain radar showed the band of heavy rain making its way south over Northland with particularly intense falls over Doubtless Bay, inland from the Bay of Islands and over the Kaipara Harbour.

A severe thunderstorm watch is in place for all of Northland and Auckland until 9pm Friday, and again from midnight until 11am on Saturday.

Saturday's severe thunderstorm watch also applies to Aotea-Great Barrier Island, Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Waitomo, Taumarunui, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō and Taranaki.

Northland Regional Council rainfall data shows the heaviest rain so far, 30mm per hour, was recorded near Pawarenga in North Hokianga in the hour to 1pm.

Further south, Hakaru, near Kaiwaka, and the often dry Pouto Peninsula, both in the Kaipara District, were also experiencing heavy rain.

Regional council records show the last significant rain in the Kaitāia area was in mid-September.