Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has arrived in Auckland following the catastrophic flooding in the city last night.

He received a briefing from emergency services, visit some affected communities in West Auckland, and was assessing the damage from a helicopter.

A media conference is currently scheduled for 3.15 pm.

What you need to know:

• After raging floodwaters and slips brought on by an unprecedented downpour of rain across Auckland, two people have died and two are missing.

• Auckland is under a state of emergency that will last for seven days.

• Residents of Auckland are urged to stay in and forgo unnecessary travel. Many roads and public transport services remain blocked throughout the region.

• Eight locations on State Highway 1 are closed or restricted. To help stranded drivers, officials briefly opened the new Puhoi motorway north of Auckland last night.

• According to MetService, yesterday was the wettest day on record for Auckland. A record amount of rain fell on Auckland in just 24 hours. By 1am, the region had received 249mm of rain, breaking the previous record set in February 1985 of 161.8mm.

• Civil Defense duty controller Andrew Clark reports that the “situation has significantly stabilised this morning.”

• Auckland Airport domestic terminal re-opened at 12pm. The international terminal will not reopen for departing flights until 5pm and there will be no arriving flights until Sunday 4.30am.

• Both Monday's Laneway Festival event and Elton John's second Auckland performance have been cancelled.

Residents and other politicians have criticised Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown for responding to the crisis too slowly, but Brown defended his actions to reporters late last night.