A Henley farmer returned home to find the roof of his house had been ripped off by category two hurricane-force wind gusts.
Farmer Shane Hildred said he and his wife were not home when the roof was torn away on Thursday night but he was prepared for the damage, as neighbours had been in contact soon after.
‘‘I can't really explain why this roof went. It's probably the worst damage around the neighbourhood. It's landed in some trees out the back. The main structure is still intact [but] the ceiling in the lounge has collapsed.''
Mr Hildred said he ‘‘wasn't too worried'' about having no roof. He was more worried about having no electricity, meaning he could not milk his cows yesterday morning.
‘‘It is what it is. It's just a house. If we can get our power back on, then we'll sort of live relatively normally.''
The winds were some of the strongest Mr Hildred had experienced in his 10 years on the property and 20 to 30 trees were down in the area.
A temporary cover was being put on the house and an insurance assessor was scheduled to visit yesterday. Mr and Mrs Hildred were staying with neighbours.
‘‘It could have been a lot worse [and] we've managed to get the jug boiled. That's important'' he said.
Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket said the port coped well during the weather onslaught.
‘‘A strong southwesterly was really whipping up the harbour,'' Mr Plunket said.
‘‘We anticipated it [and] it didn't have too much effect.''
The gusts were some of the strongest staff had experienced, he said.
Cruise ship Explorer of the Seas was scheduled to leave at 8pm on Thursday but was delayed and left about 6am yesterday.
The ship was ‘‘non-secured'' but sat in one of the most sheltered parts of the harbour and needed no assistance from tugs, Mr Plunket said.
Another vessel, Italica, ripped a bollard off the Steamer Basin wharf but ‘‘was never in any danger'', he said.
Container operations were shut down at 6.30pm on Thursday as a precaution.
Royal Albatross Centre manager of operations Hoani Langsbury said most of Otago Peninsula was still without power yesterday afternoon but there had been no loss of animal life and the centre used generators to continue as normal.
‘‘All the albatross are OK. We've been inundated with calls to check on the condition of the birds,'' Mr Langsbury said.
Royal Cam, which streams live pictures of an albatross chick, was out of action until power was restored.
Mr Langsbury, who lives close to the centre at Taiaroa Head, said the winds were
some of the strongest he could remember.
‘‘I came out last night about 8.30pm and a couple of our gates got blown to pieces.
‘‘It was so windy, I couldn't even open my car door. I had to park it at a different angle to get it open.''The St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool was forced to close yesterday due to flooding caused by high tides and made worse by the strong winds.
Pool supervisor Punua Tangimetua said debris floating in the water made it unsafe for swimmers.
Dunedin Airport marketing and communications manager Megan Crawford said eight flights were cancelled on Thursday night and two more yesterday morning.
Four hundred passengers were affected.
JetStar brought in an extra flight yesterday morning to deal with passengers stranded overnight.
Dunedin City Council infrastructure and networks project and asset management team leader Hamish Black said the council was dealing with about 12 incidents at city parks caused by winds, the most significant being a tree that fell through a conservatory near Chingford Park.
Two contacting crews were making sure high priority areas were safe, especially in places such as the North Ground, the Otago Museum reserve and Chingford Park.
‘‘Given how strong the wind was, we're happy across the board with how things panned out.''
The fate of a catamaran which broke its moorings at Portobello and a second yacht that came loose in the wind was unknown.
