Winds gusting up to 172kmh created havoc for emergency services in Dunedin and the Taieri yesterday afternoon.
A front moving across the country brought severe northwest gales to the area, knocking down trees, power and telephone poles and lines, lifting roofs and damaging properties.
A MetService spokesman said average wind speeds neared hurricane force, and winds gusted to 172kmh (6pm) on Swampy Summit, 117kmh (7pm) at Dunedin International Airport, 76kmh (6pm) in the Dunedin City centre and 94kmh (6pm) at Taiaroa Head. Gusts of up to 67kmh were also recorded in Oamaru and Wanaka at 6pm.
Middlemarch recorded an average wind speed of about 70kmh at 4pm. Gusts could easily have exceeded 100kmh, he said.
An Air New Zealand spokesman said several flights were cancelled and many others were severely delayed because of "extremely potent crosswinds" at Dunedin International Airport.
Dunedin police and fire services were inundated with calls from residents affected by the wind all over the city and the Taieri.
Senior Sergeant Kelvin Lloyd said the Central Police Station received hundreds of calls: "We've been inundated with calls about trees falling, power lines down and roofs being blown off."
Snr Sgt Lloyd said there had been many calls about a crane swinging around at the Regent Theatre construction site. However, the owner of the crane allayed fears it might topple, by saying it was designed to swing in strong winds.
Many roads in the city were reduced to one lane by fallen trees and power lines. Parts of Highcliff Rd and Portobello Rd were closed several times as large trees fell.
A dozen cars were trapped for about two hours on Portobello Rd between fallen trees at Grassy Point and Challis Point. The trees were removed and the road was reopened to one lane of traffic about 9pm.
Water to about 300 houses in Opoho was cut when a tree fell on a water main about 10pm.
Dunedin City Council water production manager Gerard McCombie said the water main, between Opoho and the Mt Mera reservoir, would not be fixed until mid-afternoon todayat the earliest.
The affected areas were Evans St, Grandview Cres, and McGregor St.
Today, water tankers will be stationed at the corner of Signal Hill Rd and McGregor St, and near the top of Evans St, for household supplies.
Also, a wider area from Watts Rd to the top of the Northeast Valley was asked to conserve water.
The wind also damaged power lines and cut electricity to North Dunedin, Outram, parts of Mosgiel and Highcliff Rd, on the Otago Peninsula.
Network Waitaki operations manager Kamlesh Prasad said the wind also brought down wires at Weston, cutting power to about 250 households at 7.20pm .
Power was restored to all but three households within 30 minutes, he said.
Inland, the wind brought down a power pole when it was struck by a branch about 4.30pm, Mr Prasad said.
The pole was downed near the edge of the network's coverage on State Highway 8 near Lindis Pass, he said.
The outage affected about 70 households. Power was restored by 7pm, except to one house directly fed from the pole.
Another MetService spokesman said the next weather pattern to look forward to was more snow down to 300m in Dunedin.
