Northeast winds gusting to more than 100kmh buffeted Dunedin yesterday, sending rubbish, windows and trees flying.
Branches and other debris were reported on roads, and emergency services responded to multiple callouts between 8am and 10am.
Among the callouts were telephone lines down in Wakari, roofing iron lifting in the central city, a tree blown on to a Corstorphine roof, a smashed glass pergola in Balaclava and several collapsed fences.
A MetService spokesman said the winds were part of a low sitting off the coast of Dunedin, which passed over the South Island about noon.
The weather pattern caused strong northeasterly winds overnight, gusting up to 109kmh at Swampy Summit at 1am.
It remained blustery until about 10am.
Dunedin International Airport recorded gusts of up to 75kmh, Taiaroa Head had a mean wind speed of 74kmh and wind in Dunedin city gusted up to 67km.
The winds were not particularly strong, but were coming from an unusual direction, so caused more damage than winds of that speed might otherwise do, a MetService forecaster said.
The Green Island landfill did not open until 10am because of the danger posed by wind-blown rubbish and the usual Tuesday rubbish collection was not completed in the city.
Rubbish usually collected yesterday would be collected on Saturday instead, Dunedin City Council solid waste contract supervisor Peter Moroney said.
More wind was expected today, but not at the strength seen yesterday, a MetService spokesman said.
