Heavy rain is pounding the region with 18mm of rain already dumped in the city in the last 24 hours and MetService says more is to come.

Listen to Dan Corbett talk about weather hitting the region.

About 18mm of rain has been recorded at the top of the Kaimais as a subtropical low hits.

MetService media and communications meteorologist Dan Corbett says just off to the west in places like Paeroa, 17mm has fallen and in Auckland 30mm.

'I've noticed the rainfall rates in the hour they started trickling in at 1 to 2mm of rain an hour, and now we are seeing up to 5mm to excess of 6mm an hour in Tauranga.

'Not far away, to the top of the North Island, we are seeing bands of weather with rainfall rates of up to 10 to 15mm of rain. That's still to come.”

Dan says the rain will pick up and get more intense, with a lot more rain to come in the next six to eight hours.

'The severe weather warning remains in place, with the heaviest parts of the rain and wind to hit the region between now and 3pm. You could see gusts reach up to 120km/h, particularly on the coast as the system moves closer in the next few hours.

'Batten down the hatches for the next few hours but things will get better for the weekend with only a few showers expected over Easter.”