Updated April 14, 2017 00:38:47

Hundreds of people in New Zealand have been evacuated from some coastal areas as the second major storm in just over a week made landfall near the North Island town of Whakatane.

Weather authorities had said the country was potentially facing the worst storm since 1968, but residents of the nation's largest city Auckland, breathed a sigh of relief as the remnants of Cyclone Cook moved past them to the east.

Authorities had feared the storm could hit the city and cause major problems.

"It seems Auckland has largely survived ... unscathed," Auckland Mayor Phil Goff tweeted.

A state of emergency remained in effect for the Bay of Plenty and the Thames-Coromandel district.

Roads were blocked by fallen trees and landslides, and about 15,000 homes in the eastern Bay of Plenty have lost power.

Civil defence authorities said people from about 250 homes in the beach town of Ohope were told they had to evacuate, while other households chose to leave.

Air New Zealand suspended flights from Tauranga Airport and other flights around the country were also delayed or cancelled.

The storm also caused power disruptions to hundreds of homes in Whakatane and Tauranga.

The military said it had placed 500 troops on standby to assist those affected, if required.

Sarah Stuart-Black, director of the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, said the storm was "extremely serious" and severe weather warnings were in place for much of the country.

"We are watching very carefully, we're not through this yet," she said.

The storm was expected to move south overnight on Thursday and reach the capital, Wellington, early Friday, causing more problems along the way but also losing some of its punch.

Photo: A graphic showing the forecasted movement of Cyclone Cook. (ABC News)

Earlier this week Cyclone Cook swept through Vanuatu and New Caledonia, where it killed one person.

New Zealand's meteorological service issued severe weather warnings for the upper North Island and warned of landslides, flooding and wind damage from gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour.

Photo: Cyclone Cook may have spared Auckland but not everyone was so lucky. (Supplied: Mark Dames)

"Everyone's on standby, all emergency services, all our contractors, we're all working together," she said.

"It's really just a case of wait and see. We'll be responding as soon as we can get out there and assess what damage we've sustained basically."

Disaster authorities asked people to avoid hardest-hit towns and reconsider their travels over the four-day Easter weekend.

Weather expert Chris Brandolino told Radio New Zealand more than 100 millimetres of rain could fall over Thursday and Friday.

The tail-end of another powerful cyclone, Debbie, had already slammed the country last week, wreaking havoc and leaving the town of Edgecumbe flooded by thigh-high water with many people still unable to return to their homes.

ABC/Reuters

Topics: cyclone, cyclones, new-zealand, pacific

First posted April 13, 2017 12:05:01