Firefighters in the South Island battled several blazes overnight.
Most of them were due to trees coming down over powerlines or previous burnoffs flaring up in strong winds, southern fire shift manager Andrew Norris said.
As the wind died down on Friday afternoon, it was safe for linemen to get their ladders out and venture up power poles to restore power to thousands of Cantabrians.
It has also allowed contractors to safely venture out and clear roads and farm tracks across the region.
Winds gusting as high as 149km/h were recorded in North Canterbury.
The wind power was so strong it snapped a power pole near Oxford bringing down powerlines.
At 9.30am MainPower said around 7000 homes were without power in Waimakariri and Hurunui.
Cantabrians on social media reported "crazy" winds which toppled trees and smashed windows.
Niwa recorded gusts reaching 137km/h inland of Rakaia and 147km/h in North Canterbury.
Trees also came down around the Hororata Golf Club and littered the fairways and greens.
An irrigator flipped in the wind on a dairy farm off German Rd. Photo: Robyn Bristow
Too dangerous to go outside
Melanie McCaw who farms near Methven said the wind was blowing so hard it was too dangerous to go outside.
"It's devastating," said McCaw.
"We have had horrific winds overnight and it has blown down massive big trees - we can't get out of our driveway because there is a big macrocarpa that has blown over and blocked the road.
"The silos have blown over the irrigators, they have been smashed by trees that have fallen down on them."
McCaw said the mess is "massive" and she was worried they would lose power.
"We have dirt in the house that has been blown in from the paddock into the house.
"I am about to clean up the mess before the power goes off because we have got a short that is sparking where the lines have gone down.
"It is still blowing and too dangerous to go outside. We can't do much until the wind stops and get out there with the chainsaws and try and clean up the mess basically," said McCaw.
As of 6.30am, about 30 Fire and Emergency NZ crews were responding to about 10 wildfires from South Canterbury to Hurunui, a spokeswoman said.
Most were in rural areas.
The largest was in the Glentui area. The only report of fire damage was to a hayshed.
Some of the fires were at the sites of previous managed burn-offs and had been reignited by the wind.
Others may have been caused by fallen power lines, or lightning strikes.
Fire and Emergency NZ activated its Canterbury regional co-ordination centre which was in monitoring mode.
Meanwhile, Loburn School was without power after lines went down and a fire broke out in the Mt Thomas area.
Oxford Area School was also closed on Friday due to high, dangerous winds.
The school had no power and buses were not able to run in the conditions.
Orion spokesperson Linda McGregor said there were 19 separate outages, most of them around Hororata, Darfield and the Sheffield-Coalgate areas.
"Crews are out on the road and investigating all the outages," she said.
"We hope to get the power back on as soon as possible."
The strong winds started to abate around 11am, which saw most crews get to work.
"Obviously with very high winds it is not safe for our crews to be up ladders up telephone poles, but there will be some instances we will be able to repair and others we will wait until the wind abates."
A farm near Ashburton. Photo: Daniel Tobin
Warnings for drivers
Around 3.30am on Friday police said there were multiple sites on SH1 and SH79 where trees had fallen in high winds and partly blocked roads.
"Please drive with care and expect delays."
NZTA Waka Kotahi said a strong wind warning was in place on SH79 between Fairlie and Geraldine and drivers should take extra care, especially if in a high-sided vehicle or motorbike.
There were reports of "quite a bit of debris from trees, rubbish bins and the like blown across road", NZTA said. "We urge caution for those commuting into the city this morning."
A truck driver told RNZ he made it through Arthur's Pass to the West Coast on SH73 overnight, and had seen "the big green highway signs snapped off at ground level".
At one point he said a gust of wind had blown his eight-wheeler into the other lane.
Photo: Daniel Tobin
Dangerous gales spark fires overnight
Fire and Emergency NZ said the "significant weather event" started with very strong wind around Dunedin on Thursday night.
The weather moved north and crews from Fairlie, Albury, Geraldine, Timaru, Pleasant Point and Cave attended "a multitude of fires", including a hayshed near Fairlie and a plantation along the state highway near Albury.
Rain in Bluff caused surface flooding, affecting two properties. Crews spent several hours there pumping water and helping the occupants.
Meanwhile, the wind kept moving north - causing a large vegetation fire at Opuha. Fairlie, Geraldine and Temuka fire crews brought that under control.
Fires were also seen around Waimate, Temuka, Timaru, St Andrews, Methven and Ashburton.
"All of the incidents that we've had have been hampered by very strong winds. Trees that are falling over the road are hampering the ability of crews to respond and also bringing down power lines."
