South Westland faced numerous power cuts as the cold easterlies roared down the gorges, and State Highway 6 between Ross and Hari Hari was closed due to falling trees.
State Highway 73 at Porters Pass was also closed, but that was due to snow.
Metservice had issued an orange alert for gale-force winds along the West Coast, and a private weather station at Rapahoe recorded a gust of 110kmh on Tuesday night, while another at Whataroa hit 140kmh-160kmh.
Whataroa Chief Fire Officer Ian Philps said power first went off around tea time on Wednesday night, and was restored about 9pm after downed lines at Te Taho were repaired.
It was off again yesterday morning, because of damaged lines 2km south of the township.
The road closure led to no traffic on the roads, but yesterday he helped when a car trailer with a cabin on the back was blown over — in the same location where power lines were brought down yesterday morning.
As he was towing it away it was blown over again, and he had to get a loader in to help.
"We always get that easterly ... It comes and goes in big gusts."
Hari Hari fire chief John McIntosh said the winds were "very, very strong".
"There’s a bit of perspex off one roof; bound to be a bit more. Power is back on, but was off for quite a bit last night."
Damage was light in Greymouth.
Fire chief Lee Swinburn said the brigade secured loose flashings on a house in Blaketown, but there was no other drama.
Westport was also windy, but it was chimney fires that kept the brigade busy there last night.
Westpower general manager network Mark Blandford said a glasshouse near Hari Hari was blown over about 5.30pm and the metal framing flew up into the power lines, affecting 905 consumers south of Hari Hari.
The Wahapo hydro-scheme generation gradually restored supply from 6.35pm, and by 7.20pm power was restored to all consumers.
About 7pm Whataroa township lost power due to a circuit breaker opening because of a broken power line on the ground.
In this case, 181 consumers were without power overnight as extreme winds made repair work unsafe.
Repair work started yesterday morning and at 10.15am the line was repaired and power restored.
About 8.45pm on Tuesday, 209 properties lost supply when extreme winds broke some insulators around Te Taho.
About 11.30pm, 121 consumers around Rotomanu lost supply due to extreme winds breaking another insulator. — Greymouth Star
