One person is dead after a tree came down on State Highway 1 north of Dunedin today.
A police spokeswoman said officers were called to the scene, on the northern side of the Kilmog, south of Waikouaiti, at 12.10pm.
A tree had reportedly fallen and hit two vehicles, she said.
An ODT photographer at the scene said the tree had come down at the bottom of the Kilmog, and there was a car upside down in a ditch.
Stuff is reporting the deceased was in this vehicle, which wasn't one of the two hit by the tree.
A St John spokesman confirmed that two people had moderate injuries.
Police later confirmed that one person had died, and said the death had occurred following a crash.
There was a digger at the scene which had removed pieces of the tree from the road.
A witness told Stuff his own vehicle narrowly avoided hitting the tree, and another vehicle came close to being crushed. It had branches under the wheel.
The police Serious Crash Unit was on site and the road was expected to be closed while it examined the scene, police said.
Motorists are advised that there are temporary speed restrictions in place in the surrounding area.
A NZ Transport Agency spokeswoman said it undertook tree felling, under traffic management, earlier this week at a separate site about 100 metres prior to where the crash happened.
The two sites were unrelated, she said.
The temporary traffic management will stay in place overnight until an assessment of other trees in vicinity could be completed tomorrow morning.
