The December 21 gusts reached 155kmh at Swampy Summit and left trees and powerlines prone, roofs lifted, and windows smashed across the city and surrounds.
A fortnight later, some of the city's parks and reserves were yesterday still littered with piles of branches torn or, later, cut from trees damaged by the wind.
City council parks and reserves manager Martin Thompson said it could take another couple of weeks for contractor Asplundh, which had a reduced staff over Christmas, to complete the clean-up.
Dangerous, broken or hanging branches were removed from trees before Christmas and vegetation debris was brought together in piles ready for collection.
Debris was removed from high-priority sites including the central city, Queens Garden and the Otago Museum reserve, and would be removed from other sites from this week," Mr Thompson said.
"It was a very big storm event, and there was a lot of work to be done, so it has been a case of prioritising and working the way through it."
Mr Thompson could not detail how many council-administered sites still had piles of branches, nor how many sites had already been cleaned.
Clean-up costs could not be confirmed until the contractor completed the work in the coming weeks, Mr Thompson said.
The work came under the council's general tree contract but the priority and emergency component would be charged separately.
