Cyclone Cook has struck New Zealand with power outages, fallen trees and landslides reported around much of the central and eastern North Island, which bore the brunt of the storm.

Cook, which forecasters feared could be the worst storm to strike New Zealand in decades, made landfall just after 6pm local time but by then many coastal villages were abandoned as five-metre swells combined with high tide and smashed against the deserted shoreline.

Although a few rogue spectators braved the elements to gape at the raging surf, most residents seemed to heed civil defence warnings and had moved to higher ground hours before.

Schools and offices closed in Auckland at about lunchtime as civil defence staff urged residents to leave the city immediately and remain at home.

Extra public transport was laid on for the thousands of people escaping the city. By late afternoon, however, the MetService said Cook had just bypassed New Zealand’s largest and most populated city, and the weather warning was dropped.

Further south in the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty regions, power remains out in tens of thousands of homes, and gale-force winds have been reported.

Last week, the tail-end of cyclone Debbie devastated the Bay of Plenty town of Edgecumbe, forcing its 2,000 residents to flee with only a few minutes’ warning.

Although flooding on Thursday was less severe than anticipated, hundreds of trees have fallen, and police said many roads had been closed in the North Island.

Many rural communities on the east coast have prepared to be cut off for up to three days, and have laid in supplies of emergency food and survival gear to wait out the cyclone. Helicopters and emergency teams would set out at first light to check on isolated farms and communities, civil defence said.

States of emergency remain in place in Bay of Plenty and Thames-Coromandel, with the defence force assisting in moving residents to higher ground and keeping people away from the coast.