Ex-tropical cyclone Wilma now lies north of East Cape and is rapidly moving away from New Zealand reports WeatherWatch.co.nz.

The destructive cyclone, which maintained category 2 status overnight, will be centred east of New Zealand in the next couple of hours.

Heavy rain has now completely cleared Northland, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula and WeatherWatch.co.nz says it will clear Bay of Plenty in the next hour or two.

The back end of the rain band is currently moving through Tauranga.

A few showers may linger but overall sunny and dry weather will quickly return to northern New Zealand today.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says a strong to gale force south west wind will push across the North Island this morning and may cause further complications after the heavy rain, such as uprooting trees in saturated soil.  It may also help create some more slips.

Wilma was the third cyclone to reach New Zealand this month but the only one to officially remain a Tropical Cyclone says WeatherWatch.co.nz.

One a tropical cyclone leaves the tropics they undergo a major transition which changes the entire structure of the storm.  Wilma didn’t complete this transition until she had cleared Northland, meaning the upper North Island faced what many tropical regions face during cyclone season.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says tropical cyclones are extremely dangerous and says things could’ve been much worse had it tracked as little as 100kms further west, affecting Auckland more.