Cyclone Gita

Broadcasters in the territory normally get forecasts directly from the National Weather Service.

However, the protocol changes once the Emergency Operations Centre is activated, with all forecasts issued to radio and television stations from the centre.

Southseas Broadcasting general manager Joey Cummings said Gita forecasts issued in the morning often did not reach his station until the afternoon.

In Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's first official visit to Samoa, she joked to her counterpart Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, that she has been called the daughter of Niue and to not be offended.

The two leaders emphasized the importance of their relationship, especially around climate change, and the economy.

They spoke at length about the recent Cyclone Gita, and in particular, an unprecedented landslide.

A front is moving northwards over the upper South Island this morning, then onto the lower North Island this afternoon.

Heavy rain has already fallen in Fiordland and southern Westland, and more is expected in the northwest of the South Island and parts of the lower North Island today.

But MetService severe weather forecaster Eric Brenstrum told Morning Report it should only be a "fraction" of the rain seen last week.

He said the front has weakened as it travelled north - while parts of Fiordland saw 300mm of rain fall yesterday.

The Christchurch City, Taranaki, Nelson Tasman, Grey and Selwyn councils still have a state of emergency in place to deal with widespread flooding and disruption.

Fire and Emergency said almost 500 people made emergency calls yesterday and through the night.

At least 5000 people in Golden Bay and Collingwood are cut off after heavy rain brought down slips, closing the road in three places on Takaka Hill and State Highway 1 into Kaikōura has been closed by slips.

Initial reports say the category three storm caused no serious damage.

It passed as forecast to the south of the Isle of Pines which was the only part of the territory on full alert.

The system brought gales of up to 130 km an hour as well as heavy rain.

Hilary Roots, who lives on the Isle of Pines, said Cyclone Gita was frightening as it passed through Friday night.

She said there was less rain than forecast but there were very strong wind gusts.

Ms Roots said the eye passed a hundred kilometres to south of the Isle.

MetService forecasts severe thunderstorms with frequent lightning, and downpours of up to 40 millimetres of rain per hour which may cause flooding.

It said the heavy rain and thunderstorm activity should ease south of Hokitika late morning, and between Hokitika and Westport by about 2pm this afternoon.

MetService has predicted the rest of the weekend to be fairly nice.

However it won't be nice for long as Cyclone Gita is expected to make its way to New Zealand early next week.

Gita swept through Samoa at the weekend when it was still a category two storm.

Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and a government assessment team visited parts of the country yesterday.

RNZI reports most of the damage caused has been through flooding, especially in and around Apia where the Vaisigano River's banks were breached.

One of the most serious flooding areas was around Samoa's iconic Aggie Grey's Sheraton Hotel near the Apia waterfront.

The hotel is now closed as workers are concentrating on the clean-up.

Forecaster Rajneel Prasad said gale force winds may affect Noumea as the cyclone approaches.

He said the location of tropical cyclone Gita was 480km east of Noumea at 6am (Fiji time) this morning.

It is expected to track west and southwest from its current location and will pass over the southeast islands of New Caledonia over the next day or so.

Activities at sea are banned on New Caledonia's Isle of Pines and people were being advised to board up their houses and secure their livestock.

A pre-alert remains in place for the rest of the territory.

The cyclone caused widespread flooding, water damage and power outages.

Samoa suffered little structural damage to buildings and infrastructure but some homes were still without power due to downed power lines.

The Electric Power Corporation said it was working hard to restore power to all consumers by the end of the week.

Many homes located by rivers that burst their banks were still cleaning up mud and debris.

Health officials continued to issue warnings about dengue and other water bourne diseases, recommending people boil water.

Cyclone Gita was earlier upgraded to a category five - the highest possible.

The office's director, Anare Leweniqila, said damage assessments were on-going, but so far there were no reports of casualties or injuries on Ono-i-Lau.

"We have only received reports of three completely destroyed houses and we are just working around trying to ascertain the nature of these structures."

Mr Leweniqila said it was unclear if the homes were Fijian bures, made of corrugated iron or wood.