The children, who have been dead "a number of years", have family in NZ and also in Asia, Stuff understands.

Some nights Evan Thame and his wife see children dealing drugs from their Hamilton emergency housing motel, other nights it's guns being waved around.

All weather warnings have now been lifted, but the devastation caused by the storm means some places will take years to recover.

Charges being considered after police arrest pair in connection with two incidents allegedly involving a firearm in Tauranga on Saturday.

The announcement comes as the seven-day rolling average of both cases and hospitalisations continues to drop.

The Hector's dolphins were found in Tasman and the West Coast, and join 15 others found dead on beaches since November.

Alan Dickie was prioritised for cancer therapy, but told he had to wait for eight months. It was "quite a burden", he says.

David Pattinson packed a bag, grabbed his pet bird and had cup of tea in his lounge. Two hours later, a slip blasted through his home.

A fire on Auckland's North Shore has seen a parrot rescued and traffic diverted as 30 firefighters respond.

In four days Nelson has recorded nearly three times the average rainfall for the entire month of August.

Several vehicles have been crushed as heavy rain sent a retaining wall, pathway and trees crashing down onto a road below.

A Silverdale Animal Shelter officer shares her top tips for keeping children safe around dogs, following recent dog attacks in Auckland and Northland.

An identity crisis is the last thing local government needs. But avoiding one during the next three years will be a real challenge.

Occupants of a Rai Valley home had to quickly evacuate when it started moving off its foundations, as a landslide swept it on to a rural road.

Residents in Nelson are "overwhelmed" by the number of strangers showing up with shovels and wheelbarrows to help clear mud and debris.

Caleb Snowdon was walking along Waitara Beach with his partner when he spotted a group of people driving a quad bike and picking up rubbish from the storm.

The van barrelled down the drive and came to s stop just outside a door of a house on the North Shore.

Jinho Bae – drawn to Hawke's Bay by a “big adventure story” his father told 45 years ago – is among a 600-strong and growing Korean collective.

As residents next to Nelson's Maitai River surveyed the damage left by floodwaters, strangers turned up with wheelbarrows and shovels to help.

After a tenancy relationship soured, the landlords changed the locks and refused to return a teen's artwork of “huge emotional significance”.