Gabrielle is now within 500km of Cape Reinga.

Gabrielle’s speed has begun to slow down, and will take the next 36 hours to track south down the east coast of Northland before finally turning to the east and moving away. This means the heavy rain and strong winds are set to persist until Tuesday.

The strongest wind gust recorded so far is 140km/h at Cape Reinga, and some parts of Northland have already seen over 120mm of rain in the past 24 hours.