MetService has updated its severe weather warnings, and Auckland is now under a strong wind warning.

Heavy Rain Warnings (Orange):

• Northland: 90–130mm rain on top of what has already fallen from Wednesday 8pm to Thursday 9pm. Thunderstorms possible.
  
• Coromandel: 150–250mm about the ranges from Wednesday midnight to Friday noon. Thunderstorms possible Thursday evening and Friday.
• Bay of Plenty (incl. Rotorua): 120–200mm inland from Thursday 10am to Friday 10pm.
• Gisborne (north of Tokomaru Bay): 110–150mm of rain from Thursday 9pm to Friday midnight. More heavy rain Saturday.
• Tasman (NW of Motueka): 250–350mm in ranges from Thursday 6pm to Saturday midnight. More heavy rain Sunday.

Strong Wind Warnings (Orange):

• Northland: Severe gale easterlies gusting 120 km/h in exposed places, with damaging gusts of 140 km/h possible tonight and Thursday morning. Warning lasts from Wednesday 8pm to Thursday 8pm.
  
• Auckland & Great Barrier: Severe gale easterlies gusting 120km/h in exposed places. Low chance of upgrading to a Red Warning. Orange warning lasts Wednesday 8pm to Thursday midnight.

The latest rain radar from MetService shows a band of rain moving south over the upper North Island.

Wind and rain will intensify into the night, with gusts of up to 120km/h or higher predicted.

The yellow represents light rain, and the blue shows moderate rain.

Due to the incoming bad weather, the Gannet Colony Track at Muriwai will be temporarily closed as a precaution.

Auckland Council said the closure will remain in place until conditions improve and a full safety assessment is completed.

Top Energy NZ said severe weather conditions continue to impact the network and several outages remain across the Northland region.

“For safety reasons, our crews will shortly be standing down for the night.”

Top Energy NZ said that due to the scale of the damage in some areas, it’s likely that some customers in the Rāwhiti and North Hokianga areas will remain without power overnight.

 “Our teams will continue to respond to emergency call-outs overnight to make damaged parts of the network safe, with full restoration efforts resuming as soon as it is safe to do so.”

MetService says the strongest gust recorded today was at Cape Rēinga, which reported 130km/h at 6pm.

Niwa warns winds will ramp up overnight, with gusts exceeding 100km/h in exposed locations, especially in Northland, Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula.

"Our trees aren’t as used to strong winds from the east – so the risk of power outages, falling branches, and debris on roads is higher than usual."

Prepare now by tying down loose items, charging devices and taking care on the roads.

Carol Lewis, a passenger on Royal Princess, told RNZ they were meant to set off for American Samoa this evening, but strong winds mean that won't happen.

"The ship is just staying in port here where that's considered the safest place for all the staff and all the passengers."

Lewis said they've been told the crew will reassess departure tomorrow morning.

Vector crews have responded to a small number of outages as ex-tropical cyclone Tam approaches the Auckland region, and restored power for some customers.

"Where it’s safe to do so, crews will continue to work overnight to restore more power overnight," Vector said.

"We’re expecting stronger winds overnight and tomorrow, and these may cause trees and branches to come down over lines.

"Please remember to stay well clear of any downed or low-hanging lines, treat them as live at all times, and call 111 if you see any."

Anyone without power should follow updates on vector.co.nz/outages.

If you are medically dependent on electricity, Vector recommends making sure your back-up plan is ready if needed.

The number of power outages reported in Northland has dropped significantly, from over 3500 at 4pm to under 1000 at 5pm.