Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown spoke from council offices in the city centre on the Cyclone Vaianu response.
Mitchell was heading to the Bay of Plenty later today.
Cyclone Vaianu is continuing to move south and is expected to bring severe winds and heavy rain to parts of the North Island.
Wind gusts of up to 120km/h were recorded in Northland overnight.
Thousands remain without power across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato.
States of emergency have been declared for Waikato, including the Coromandel, Northland, Western Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay.
The whole North Island is under some level of weather warning, with the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and Great Barrier Island under red alerts.
MetService warned of a possible "threat to life" in these areas, with the possibility of falling trees, landslips and flooding.
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