Prepared for the worst as Cyclone Gabrielle bore down, Norfolk Island has avoided the strongest winds but still faced a wild night and widespread damage.

The centre of the category two storm passed directly over the South Pacific island about 9pm local time on Saturday, leaving in its wake downed trees, blocked roads and widespread power outages.

While gusts of up to 155km/h were recorded, the sustained wind speed of 110km/h was substantially less than the Bureau of Meteorology anticipated.

“We expect the centre of the circulation to move across Norfolk Island overnight and then start moving away from Norfolk Island (in the) early hours of Sunday morning,” Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Narramore said on Saturday.

“But on the backside, we expect another burst of strong to destructive winds as well as some bursts of heavy rainfall and a continuing damaging surf and swell.”

The storm is expected to continue to track southeast out of the tropics and is predicted to pass New Zealand on Monday night, according to Weatherwatch.co.nz.

The impending storm follows record single-day rainfall a fortnight ago which caused phenomenal flooding in Auckland, killed four people and caused roughly $NZ1 billion ($A0.91 billion) worth of damage.

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The wind has already started in the Northland region, while MetService has issued the highest red warnings for  heavy rain in Coromandel and northern Gisborne.

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Gale periods are expected over Norfolk Island into Sunday afternoon, with the bureau warning very heavy surf could also persist through most of Sunday.

A hazardous surf warning was in place for the Fraser Island coast, and waters off Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast until midnight on Monday.

An emergency evacuation centre was made available on Saturday morning, with the island home to about 2000 residents and an estimated up to 950 visitors remaining there after they were urged to leave.

“There is no way to evacuate the island with weather like this (when) you can’t get aircraft in so we just have to ride it out,” Norfolk Island Regional Council controller George Plant told the ABC.

Teams of military and emergency personnel were on standby to respond as needed.

-with AAP