Wind, rain forecast for much of country

Strong winds and heavy rain wreaked havoc around the country this morning, leaving more than 2500 Wellingtonians without power for several hours and causing flooding in the South Island.

The Wellington power outage happened at 12.15am and largely affected the Karori and Makara suburbs, Wellington Electricity spokesman Damien Batey told NZPA.

About 2500 properties initially lost power, but were mostly back on line within a couple of hours, and power was restored to a remaining 250 properties by 8.30am.

Police also issued a warning for drivers in the Wellington region to show extra caution after high winds between Eketahuna and Masterton on State Highway 2 and Rimutaka Hill Road.

Further south, the winter weather was causing some concern, with the MetService issuing a severe weather warning for heavy rain in Fiordland and Westland over the weekend and significant spillover for the headwaters of the Canterbury and Otago rivers.

A number of Southland roads were closed due to flooding, but the floodwaters were beginning to recede, the Southland District Council.

River levels had also dropped but monitoring would continue over the weekend.

Council asset manager of roading Russell Hawkes said motorists should take care on the roads in case of minor surface flooding.

Damage caused to roads would be repaired when the weather settled down, probably next week, he said.

MetService forecaster Chris Noble told NZPA the front that had affected the South Island yesterday and Wellington today had now moved on to Taranaki.

Another front would reach the deep south of the South Island tomorrow and the North Island on Sunday morning, while strong winds and rain were expected to continue until at least Tuesday.

The weather was typical of the changeable conditions experienced in autumn and winter, Mr Noble said.

- NZPA