North Island spared direct hit from Cyclone Hola, despite heavy rain for some

Former tropical cyclone Hola now lies to the east of Gisborne, with most of the weather system over and done with for now.

MetService released a track map at 1am showing the storm will continue to track away from the North Island to the southeast today and into tomorrow.

The storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to many northeastern and central parts of the island, with Northland especially receiving heavy rain.

Overnight, some parts of the Gisborne area received very heavy rain and a river level gauge set up on the Hikuwai River at Willowflat north of Tolaga Bay shows a rise of about 3m.

MetService reported that the rain only caused minor surface flooding in Gisborne.

Meanwhile, another cyclone has formed in the ocean northwest of New Caledonia, currently called 13P, and it is forecast to move southwest towards southeast Queensland this week.