Wild weather has hit the upper North Island, closing the Auckland Harbour Bridge several times and cutting power in some regions.

PowerCo says about 4000 properties across Taranaki, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty were without power on Saturday night.

Outages were reported at Muriwai, Woodhill Forest, Tapora, Mangawhai and Waitetuna in Waikato. Though by 9.30pm Saturday, some localised outages in Auckland's east had been restored.

MetService has put out an orange wind warning for Gisborne and Hawke's Bay overnight from Saturday into Sunday, with gusts forecast to reach 120km an hour, which could damage trees and powerlines and make driving hazardous.

And heavy rain watches are in place for Saturday into Sunday for Bay of Plenty, Tongariro National Park, Mt Taranaki, Taihape, Whanganui and Manawatū, with the warning that rainfall could potentially approach the more hazardous orange warning volumes.

Read the latest MetService watches and warnings on their website here

Strong wind watches lay across much of the North Island, warning of severe gusts in exposed areas.

Auckland Harbour Bridge was closed at least five times during Saturday as high winds swept across the city, with long periods of lane closures and temporary speed restrictions in place on the bridge when it was open.

And Waka Kotahi warn that the bridge could still close overnight if the high winds continued. They recommend drivers check their Journey Planner for up-to-date information about highway closures.

They issued a special caution to motorcycles and high-sided vehicles, and say instead of using the Auckland Harbour Bridge they should detour to the less exposed route via SH18/SH16 on the Western Ring Route.

Awakino in Waitomo District hit a peak wind speed for the North Island, with 120km per hour winds, followed by Manukau Heads at 111km an hour.

Strong winds had been expected for Northland till about 9pm on Saturday.

MetService says the gusty weather was expected to move south towards Waikato, Taranaki and Gisborne through the weekend.

Forecasters also issued an orange heavy rain warning for Tasman west of Motueka until mid-afternoon Saturday, with potential surface flooding and slips and peak falls up to 20mm an hour. The warning says the heavy rain could cause streams and rivers to rise rapidly and cause hazardous driving conditions.

RNZ