Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell is skipping today's National Party caucus retreat in Christchurch to deal with the unfolding weather situation in the upper North Island. 

Watches and warnings are in place for several parts of the country. 

Heavy rain is now battering Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula causing flooding in many places and completely cutting off Whitianga from both the north and the south. 

Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he'll be based in Auckland, so he can travel to where he needs to go. 

He says he and the Prime Minister have agreed it's best if he stays there, as most of the severe weather is expected to hit the North Island's eastern seaboard. 

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