Roads were closed, flights cancelled and power lines severed across Otago yesterday.
Work to restore power was expected to begin at daylight, though high winds were forecast until early this morning, with 120kmh gusts likely about exposed coastal locations, a Delta spokesman said.''
Consumers should be prepared in the event of further power outages,'' Delta warned.
Gusts of more than 100kmh were recorded in Dunedin, with winds reaching as high as 137kmh at Swampy Summit, just north of the city, MetService meteorologist Rob Kerr said.
The winds reached 118kmh at Moeraki, 102kmh at Balclutha and 122kmh at Gore.
Power lines were also broken near Silverstream School.
Fallen trees blocked railway lines south of Waihola late in the afternoon, causing minor delays. KiwiRail staff had cleared the line by last night.
Aurora Energy spokesman Gary Johnson said overnight power outages would affect about 500 consumers in Glenorchy, Kinloch, Closeburn and Mount Creighton; ''a few'' in Omakau; about 180 in Macandrew Bay; and about 37 in Leith Valley.
Service had been mostly restored to other areas late yesterday but intermittent outages were continuing.
In Central Otago, power had been cut to Roxburgh, Millers Flat, Ettrick, Omakau, St Bathans and Poolburn. Power outages were also reported in Wanaka after a lightning strike.
Power was also out in most of Mosgiel, and in Brighton, Ocean View and Taieri Mouth.
There were various reports of damage to properties, including a garden shed knocked over in Forbury Rd, Dunedin.
In Oamaru, firefighters were called to roofs lifting in Ouse St, Clyde St, Walbrook Cres and Eden St.
Other reports of damage included roofing iron lifting from Te Pari's building site at the North Oamaru Business Park, a large tree uprooted on McCulloch Rd and tiles lifting from the roof of Iona rest-home.
The winds also led to multiple scrub fires, including in Stoneburn near Palmerston, Waikouaiti, and Halfway Bush, Dunedin.
The Omakau Volunteer Fire Brigade attended a fire in a 50m by 50m block of willow trees, while the Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade was called to a fire in the back yard of a residential property.
Southern Fire communications manager Riwai Grace said he was dealing with 90 callouts.
The winds also wreaked havoc for road users.
Large dust storms caused two vehicle crashes within four minutes on State Highway 85 in Ranfurly, Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen, of Dunedin, said.
In the first incident, a vehicle collided with a parked car because a driver could not see, but no-one was injured.
Soon after, a milk tanker stopped to avoid the accident and was then struck from behind by a car, Snr Sgt Dinnissen said.
The driver of that car, a 63-year-old Dunedin man, suffered a compound fracture to his wrist and was flown to Dunedin Hospital by emergency services staff. The road was closed for several hours after the accident and a detour was in place.
There were strong wind warnings in place for SH87 from Kyeburn to Outram and for SH85 from Alexandra to Palmerston.
An Air New Zealand flight from Christchurch had to turn back because of conditions at Dunedin Airport, which also cancelled the plane's scheduled return service to Christchurch, airline spokeswoman Brigitte Ransom said.
Weather caused disruptions at Queenstown Airport, as well, yesterday afternoon. One Air New Zealand flight from Auckland was cancelled, another from from Brisbane was cancelled and a Qantas flight from Sydney had to be diverted to Christchurch.
Outbound flights were also affected.
A huge cloud of dust stretched for several kilometres down the Clutha River valley as strong winds whipped their way up the Upper Clutha yesterday.
The dust storm was at its peak just after 5pm and the MetService reported wind speeds of 81kmh.
Emergency services elsewhere attended callouts for broken power lines and fallen trees.
SH6 was blocked between Wanaka and Wanaka Airport late yesterday afternoon and traffic diverted while linesmen repaired a broken line.
