The North Island was peppered with almost 12,000 lightning strikes last night as thunderstorms and torrential rain brought floods and caused homes to be evacuated.

Thunderstorms were tracked mostly around northern parts of Auckland and central eastern parts of the North Island, WeatherWatch head weather analyst Philip Duncan said.

At the peak of the storms a few thousand lightning strikes were detected in an hour.

Downpours led to the Fire Service being called to more than 40 incidents, mostly flooded homes, between 6.30 and 7.30 last night in Glen Eden and Titirangi.

Fire Service spokesman Paul Radden said extra appliances were sent to the suburbs, including those equipped with machinery to pump floodwaters.

One elderly man was taken to Waitakere Hospital with chest pains after his apartment was one of three flooded on Captain Scott Rd.

Ashok Sudhakaran photographed his neighbours’ cars swamped by floodwater at Atkinson Rd in Titirangi after a “huge amount” of water cascaded down a nearby hillside.

He said he was inside his house nearby when the area was hit for about half an hour by the heaviest rain he had seen in Auckland.

Homes in Taupo were also hit by flash floods around 8pm, with one house having to be evacuated after a “creek became a river”.

Story from Nicholas Jones/NZHerald.co.nz

Photo by Geoff Blackmore