The Southern and Western Auckland train lines are experiencing delays, with cancellations possible, due to a trespasser near the overhead lines.AT Transport wrote in a statement that the power to the overhead lines has been switched…

Former TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick pocketed nearly $2.1 million after his final eight months in the job.The state broadcaster’s annual report reveals that Kenrick, who left the job in February this year, snared $2.087m during…

A Hamilton bakery was left with “frustrating damage” after it was ram-raided last night among a number of commercial burglaries across the district. Video footage obtained by the Herald shows thieves targeting Hillcrest Bakery and…

One person has been badly injured following an incident in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere.The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon, with emergency services called to Caernarvon Dr about 2pm.A video captured and shared on social…

Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson has addressed a range of issues following today’s Cabinet meeting – including the plane carrying Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Antarctica having to turn around. Robertson speaking in place…

A youth with an airgun sparked a Wellington school lockdown just as children were finishing for the day as armed police swarmed the area nearby.South Wellington Intermediate School was placed in lockdown amid a police operation…

Kāpiti College’s head of school Amy Skipper is campaigning for the voice of youth to be heard in the fight for mental health support in Aotearoa.Having handed a petition to Parliament last year demanding an increase in funding…

From wannabe bricklayers to banana lovers, British PMs have had some unusual habits.

Two residents of Echuca, a flood-hit northern Victorian town, said their community will be divided by a makeshift clay levee for months, with a class action now brewing over the barrier.

The home of Nick Dean and his wife Kerrie is one of dozens of properties on the "wrong side" of the three-kilometre wall, built over the past week.

Some residents claim the levee is pushing water back into homes, with the Murray River sitting at a current major flood level and expected peak of 94.9 metres.

This surpasses the historic flood levels of 1993 and 1975.

READ MORE: 'Dangerous' hybrid cyclone set to form off the coast

The Deans told Today, river water has flowed into their backyard, reached the garage and "all through under the house", which sits 1.1 metres off the ground.

They fear what the rest of summer could hold as they've been told the levee is not going anywhere anytime soon.

"They're saying will be here till February," Kerrie said.

"With that river rising and dropping and the rainfall that we're destined to have, it will be here for quite a few months.

"We need to get everything out. It turned into a sludge pit. It's slippery and dangerous for residents to go up and over."

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak to become UK's youngest PM in centuries

Nick said they are considering taking legal action against the council, claiming they've not received any contact from councillors.

"We've been left on our own down here," he said.

"We call it the 'Shire of Catastrophe' now, not the Shire of Campaspe.

"They haven't been near. There's been no contact. It's heartbreaking.

"If that's what the guys down here want to do I would certainly be involved in that (class action).

"If there are any legal firms watching the show this morning that specialise in that thing please make contact."

READ MORE: 'Beloved' Will and Grace actor Leslie Jordan dead at 67

Floods crisis continues

Communities across the east coast are facing another day of uncertainty with flood waters remaining high across many waterways.

As of 9:20am, there are 73 flood warnings in effect across Victoria, stretching from the state's south to the NSW border. 

Of these, five remain at emergency level.

NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Daniel Austin is hopeful the Murray River has now reached its peak around Echuca, and Moama on the NSW border.

"It's been hovering at a pretty consistent level," he said.

"We've been waiting for it to peak, hoping very much it will peak and start to provide some relief to the communities."

Austin said the magnitude of flooding across NSW is hard to grasp.

"I don't think some people really grasp the magnitude of really what we are facing across all of NSW at the moment," he said.

"All the way from the Queensland border to the Victorian border we've got significant flood warnings in place, 140-plus warnings… 23 of those at the emergency warning level.

"There are thousands of kilometres worth of highways and roads under water. We talked about crops. We've talked about houses.

"This really is a massive effort."

Jonathan Howe, senior meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said the weather focus is shifting to north-east NSW, all the way up into Queensland to Mackay.

"We are looking at the possibility of severe thunderstorms that could produce localised flash flooding," he said.

"Some strong winds but of course many other communities through inland parts of NSW are still struggling with significant flooding, so Wee Waa, Narrabri, Condobolin, Narrandera.

"Overnight the heaviest rainfall was on the NSW South Coast. We saw more than 100mm around the Bega area."

In a disturbing new development to the Medibank hack, the company has revealed main brand customers have likely been caught up in a widening data breach as hackers escalated extortion demands after releasing another 1000 customers' details.

"It has become clear that the criminal has taken data that now includes Medibank customer data, in addition to that of (health insurance business) ahm and international student customers," the company said in a statement today.

Australia's largest private health insurance company said its update was "a distressing development", after initially assuring the federal government that no sensitive personal information was taken during the cyber hack, first detected on October 12.

READ MORE: What to do if you have been hacked

It has emerged as much as 200 gigabytes of data was stolen from its servers, including highly sensitive medical details and diagnoses of customers.

Today, the insurer said the hackers had shared another 1000 ahm customer files, adding to the 100 customers it confirmed last Thursday.

Medibank said it was "too soon" to know the full extent of customer data stolen, the total number of victims or specifically what information was taken.

"As we continue to investigate the scale of this cybercrime, we expect the number of affected customers to grow as this unfolds."

Medibank boss David Koczkar apologised "unreservedly" and said the insurer is working with the government and AFP in their investigation.

"This is a malicious attack that has been committed by criminals with a view of causing maximum fear and damage, especially to the most vulnerable members of our community."

READ MORE: What Medibank customers need to know after cyberattack and ransom threat

In the aftermath of the attack, Medibank is suspending premium increases, initially planned for this month, until next year.

Medibank is the latest high-profile Australian business to be hit by hackers in a major breach.

Last month millions of customers had their personal information stolen by hackers who attacked telecommunications provider Optus.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak to become UK's youngest PM in centuries

More to come.