On Monday, MetService issued orange warnings for heavy rainfall and gale force winds over the city yesterday morning, prompting concerns there would be widespread flooding in low-lying areas.
In light of recent flooding in the North Island and previous flooding events in Dunedin, the Dunedin City Council did not want to leave anything to chance and kicked into gear on Monday night, creating sandbagging stations and a welfare centre for people to stay in if their houses were flooded.
Emergency services were also ready for a busy day.
Fortunately, the weather was tamer than expected, and most damage was minor.
But council Civil Defence controller Robert West said it was better to be safe than sorry.
"The wild weather arrived later than expected, about 5am, and the forecast for more significant rain did not eventuate, but the city needed to be ready to cope with the worst.
"We’ve worked hard in recent years to improve our response to these sorts of weather events, as well as the performance of our infrastructure, and it’s pleasing to see the network cope well."
He said there was only minor surface flooding about the city, but severe gales kept council staff, contractors and emergency services busy responding to a steady stream of calls, mostly related to trees down over roads and power outages.
A MetService spokeswoman said winds gusted up to 146kmh off the coast of Dunedin and were up to 78kmh in Dunedin itself yesterday morning.
It was so strong at times, a traffic light blew off a pole on the corner of Orari St and Andersons Bay Rd.
Power was cut to almost 500 homes in Waverley, as well as homes and businesses in Kaikorai Valley and Burnside.
Emergency services were called to a ute and trailer which had left the road on State Highway87 at Lee Stream at 6.30am.
The vehicle was travelling towards Middlemarch when it was picked up by the wind and blown around 180 degrees into a ditch, police said.
The wind also played havoc with vessels in Otago Harbour.
Tug boats had to be dispatched to keep the container vessel Spirit of Sydney in place after the wind forced its moorings to come loose.
Wind also blew a small boat on to the rocks at Wellers Rock.
Scrim masking restoration work on the Dunedin Railway Station was blown about.
It would be secured and patched up once winds had eased, a city council spokesman said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand communications shift manager Simon Lyford said the weather kept Dunedin staff busy for much of the morning.
"It was mainly for power lines down, caused by branches or trees falling down.
"We’ve had a couple of trampolines bouncing around and we also had a small slip which brought trees down and some power lines on Aramoana Rd," he said.
"So we’ve been around Port Chalmers, Portobello and Dunedin — mainly in the St Kilda area.
MetService said rainfall totalled 31.2mm in Dunedin, between 12.01am and 12pm yesterday.
Most of that fell between 6am and 9am.
The highest rainfall was recorded near Lawrence, where 57mm fell over the same timeframe.
Around the rest of the region, Emergency Management Otago group controller Matt Alley said council contractors and emergency services were also busy responding to trees across roads, minor surface flooding and blocked drains.
Parts of the Clutha district were particularly affected by the weather.
Clinton and Owaka were among several areas affected by power outages and there was widespread surface flooding on the roads, including Kaitangata’s main street and in Lawrence.
There was also surface flooding on SH8, between Roxburgh and Raes Junction.
A MetService spokeswoman said lingering showers would clear this morning and the weather was expected to be warmer and dry again for the rest of the working week.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich thanked the public and council staff and contractors, for their response to the weather event.
"We’re extremely fortunate in this city to have a dedicated team ready to respond when nature threatens.
"It’s great to see everyone working together in times like this."
