A wind gust of 108kph was recorded at Hokitika Airport at the height of the storm that lashed the West Coast overnight.
Overall, though, the region got off relatively lightly, apart from localised road closures from fallen trees in Westland, power cuts and the usual flying trampolines.
Transpower said high winds near Molesworth Station in Marlborough cut power to North Canterbury, the West Coast and Nelson-Marlborough at 2.44am. It was progressively restored between 3am and 5.30am.
Hokitika weather observer Mark Crompton said the strongest wind gust there was 108kph.; the record was 135kph.
He recorded 57mm of rain between 5pm and 9pm. When the rain eased the wind picked up.
"It just howled for about three hours," Mr Crompton said.
The local Westpower network experienced a number of wind-related outages.
Supply was lost as far south as Fox Glacier and right along the Coast, into the Buller Gorge and Westport.
"Power was restored through the early hours of the morning where it was safe to do so, however there are still areas in the Buller Gorge and around Ross, Woodstock and Rimu that remain without power," Westpower chief executive Rob Caldwell said this morning.
"Our line crews are in those areas and will be working to get the power back on as soon as possible."
Near Westport, a tree blew across the lines along the road adjacent to the Orawaiti Cemetery, Snodgrass Road area, affecting 37 Buller Electricity customers, and power was restored mid-morning.
Power was also out in the centre of Westport until about 5am, and Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief Alan Kennedy said parts of the north-eastern fringes of the town were still without power at 9am but were expected to be reconnected before lunchtime.
Hokitika fire chief Harry Collett said that given the intensity of the weather overnight the Hokitika area got off relatively lightly but he noted that many rubbish bins were strewn around the streets within the residential area this morning.
Greymouth had no storm-related call-outs. The Grey District Council had road crews out from 1am cleaning up fallen trees.
In the Upper Buller Gorge, State highway 6 from Eight Mile to Inangahua Junction was closed due to slips and fallen trees. A detour was available via Springs Junction and Reefton.
At Bruce Bay, debris was tossed across the highway by the highs seas.
