MetService has issued a severe weather outlook for northern and central New Zealand, which includes the Coromandel. We are currently experiencing strong winds, bursts of rain and thunderstorms in our District as a compact and energetic low pressure system barrels over the North Island.

Due to lightning strikes, our Thames Centennial Pool is closed for the rest of today as a safety precaution.

Please take care on our roads, secure loose outdoor furniture and tie down trampolines.

MetService are experiencing some issues with their website, while they work on fixing it, visit www2.metservice.com. This site contains all the safety critical information and includes brief forecast information, rain radar information and severe weather watches and warnings issued by MetService.

MetService talking through which places can expect which meteorological phenomenon.

Stay up to date on the weather and road conditions:

Weather updates - MetService.

Currently there are no road closures on the State Highway or council roads.

State Highways - (SH25, SH25A, SH26 in the Coromandel) NZTA. You can also call NZTA on 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49) for traffic and travel information. You can also use their journey-planning website www.onthemove.govt.nz to plan the best route for your journey, taking into account known issues and traffic on state highways.

Council roads - We will post regular updates on our Council's Facebook page as well as on our website and email newsletters. If you see an issue that needs attention, call us on 07 868 0200.

Local radio - Check stations and frequencies here.

Red Cross Hazards App - alerts about hazards. Download from the App Store or Google Play.

Emergency mobile alert - these can be sent to your mobile phone, without needing to download an app or sign up. Check if your phone is capable of receiving them, here

Waikato Regional Council has set up an online hub for rainfall and flood-related information to help people more easily keep up to date with severe weather events in the region. It can be found here.

Also follow Waikato Civil Defence on Facebook here and check out their website for updates here.

Know your neighbours - phone each other in an emergency, especially vulnerable people, to check if they're OK.

To report a power outage, contact your provider.

For more on these channels, and other information about staying informed in emergencies, go to the Civil Defence "Never Happens" website.

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