Blustering winds and soaring temperatures swept Otago yesterday, affecting flights in and out of Dunedin and Queenstown airports and leaving hundreds of people without power.
MetService issued a severe gale warning as gusts reached more than 100kmh in some parts of the South Island.
Wind was expected to ease by this morning as the northwesterly front passed through Otago, meteorologist Lisa Murray said.
A southwesterly front last night brought cooler temperatures and calmer wind gusts, although coastal Otago might still experience strong winds, Ms Murray said.
Strong winds caused dozens of flights in and out of Dunedin and Queenstown airports to be cancelled or diverted.
Aurora Energy capability and risk manager Matt Ballard said the wind caused problems for its customers across the region.
Hundreds of people lost power in East Taieri after ''the very high winds battering the region'' caused a fault in its power infrastructure.
Shortly afterward, a massive vegetation fire broke out at Saddle Hill.
Mr Ballard said the power fault ''could be related, but we won't know until the source of the fire is understood''.
The fire initially cut access to the site for Aurora maintenance crews, but once they got access, power was restored to most of the East Taieri homes by 6pm, although seven homes in Chain Hills Rd remained without power last night.
Dozens of other Aurora customers throughout the region also lost power yesterday because of wind-related issues, but power was restored by the end of the day, Mr Ballard said.
PowerNet, which provides electricity to parts of the lower South Island, said recent weather had caused more than 11,000 of its 70,000 customers to go without power.
By Tuesday, chief executive Jason Franklin said, ''less than 100 customers [were] without power''.
Many Network Waitaki customers also lost power around the district yesterday as linemen scrambled to get it restored by last night in strong winds.
Network Waitaki chief executive officer Graham Clark said there was ''widespread disruption'' to the network, after trees, branches and roofing iron fell on wires in strong winds.
In Wanaka, trees blew down at the lakefront and at Cardrona, but there were no reports of damage.
A catamaran also broke its moorings and beached near the Wanaka town centre, while two commercial boats on Lake Wanaka were driven ashore by the wind yesterday afternoon.
They were the biggest commercial boat on the lake, the 16m Dual Image, owned and operated by Simon Stewart, and the Mata-au, owned by Brent Shears, of Just Cruise.
The Roxburgh Volunteer Fire Brigade was called when part of a roof was blown off a Roxburgh East home at 12.38pm.
Chief fire officer David Rooney said firefighters covered up the exposed area and nailed iron back on the roof.
''Just as well we did too, because it's raining heavy now,'' he said later.
High winds prompted a motorcyclist travelling near Shingle Creek to abandon his ride and ''hole up'' at a nearby farmhouse ''which was a sensible thing to do'', Senior Sergeant Brian Benn, of the Southern District Command Centre, said.
