'You literally couldn't stand up' - extreme winds buffeted Wellington last night

Many residents in Wellington region lay sleepless on Sunday night, scared extreme winds might make their windows explode or tear off their roofs.

Gusts of 246 kilometres an hour were recorded at Cape Turnagain, between Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa overnight.

The wind in Wainuiomata was described as extreme by many residents, whose homes were battered.

Cherie Picking from Wainuiomata said the gusts were strong from Sunday afternoon, but became severe at about 11pm.

"We were really concerned that the windows were going to get blown in," Picking said.

"We were sheltering in the hallway where there was no glass. We shut the curtains early on in the day, so that if the glass did blow in we'd at least be a little bit protected.

"We've lost a large chunk of our roof and then I've lost things like my greenhouse, our fence is damaged and our raised garden bed was flattened."

Belinda Milnes, who owns a farm at Pigeon Bush near Wellington's Remutaka Hill, said her stable block was thrown 50m and the roof of her pump-shed was blown off.

Powerful gusts were common in the area, but this was extreme, Milnes said.

"You literally couldn't stand up. We couldn't get out of the car, because you couldn't open the doors - if you opened the door, you would lose the door."

Milnes said she went to check on her animals this morning, who are all safe and well.

Luke Gocken, who lives in Reikōrangi on the Kāpiti Coast, has been without power since Sunday night.

''This is definitely next level, Near our intersection there was a tree that was over the road so it was quite extreme, it's not usual," Gocken said.

Locals have praised their fire brigades for working through the night to ensure their communities are safe.

Dozens of flights were cancelled by strong winds battering the central and lower North Island overnight.

Air New Zealand said a total of 60 flights were cancelled across both domestic and international services yesterday and again this morning.

A spokesperson said they were working hard to re-book customers, but this was expected to take a couple of days, due to the scale of disruption and continuing bad weather.

More strong winds forecast

MetService has now lifted wind and swell warnings in the Wellington region, but said strong winds were expected to return to the South Island on Wednesday.

"Springtime westerlies have well and truly arrived over New Zealand this week, with the same areas that saw gusts close to 200 km/h over the weekend set for another round of blustery westerlies between Wednesday and Friday," MetService meteorologist Alain Baillie said.

"Although at this stage we aren't expecting them to be as strong as what was experienced this past weekend."

Gale northwesterlies were expected to be followed by an active cold front crossing New Zealand later in the week.

The North Island is expected to have a mainly fine week until the front reaches there late Friday.

Heavy rain was likely in Fiordland, Westland and Buller later this week, MetService said.

"Rain east of the Alps, along with snow melt may be enough to bring rivers to high levels," Baillie said.

"Keep an eye on the MetService Warnings page for updates as the situation unfolds."

On Wednesday and Thursday, high temperatures are forecast for eastern parts of both Islands, with maximums in the mid-twenties expected - about 8 to 10°C above the average for this time of year.

But by Friday, temperatures are likely to drop in the South Island and snow is possible above 800m in Canterbury on Friday afternoon.

Power cuts continue

Electricity distributor Powerco is expecting some homes in the North Island to remain without power overnight, after yesterday's severe winds.

Manawatū, Tararua, Wairarapa and Whanganui have been the worst affected by the power outages and about 1250 properties are still without power,

Powerco head of network operations Caz Haydon said they were working to restore power, but were hampered by the winds.