But make the most of the lull, because more wild weather may be on the way.
Yesterday morning, a roof blew off a house in Waverley; a large kowhai tree toppled into the Linsday Stream at the Dunedin Botanic Garden; a large limb broke from a tree in Queens Gardens; a tree splintered and fell across Canongate, near the intersection with Serpentine Ave; and a large pine tree brought down powerlines, blocking Castlewood Rd and knocking out power to parts of Otago Peninsula.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said appliances attended a Mini that had its windscreen broken and roof damaged, after a tree fell on it in Balmacewen Rd about 4am; and a cricket net was torn from its frame in North Dunedin before being blown on to Great King St, about 11am.
Dunedin City Council transport group manager Jeanine Benson said council received more than 30 calls from members of the public about trees down or damaged, as well as road signs, cones and rubbish being blown around.
She said staff and contractors were kept busy yesterday, responding to the reports.
Four roads — Canongate, Castlewood Rd, Butts Rd and Glen Rd — were closed due to damaged and fallen trees and tree limbs.
Traffic management was also in place in Portobello Rd, near Wellar St, where a tree limb had broken and was hanging above Portobello Rd.
The strong winds also closed Port Otago to shipping operations for most of yesterday, but it did not appear to cause any air traffic disruptions at Dunedin Airport.
‘‘So what that’s done is it’s given us a very strong pressure gradient which has affected the east coast, from Banks Peninsula, down the coast to Oamaru, Dunedin and Clutha.
‘‘They’re all quite exposed to those northeasterly winds.’’
Wind gusts reached 146kmh at the MetService weather radar on Lamb Hill, north of Dunedin, and 113kmh on Swampy Summit and Taiaroa Head.
They were persistently up around 100kmh during the storm, he said.
Those strong winds were likely to continue this morning, but were expected to gradually weaken as the day progressed.
The wind would move to a more northerly direction, he said.
‘‘Being a bit more northerly means that those coastal areas are more sheltered by the land.
‘‘Looking to Sunday, things will be much more calm as that low-pressure system in the Tasman pops out on the other side of the country.’’
Looking further ahead to Monday and Tuesday, he said it would be cooler as winds from the south started to pick up.
About Stewart Island and the coastal areas of eastern Southland, Clutha and Dunedin, there is a possibility that southwesterlies may be strong enough to require a warning.
The winds were expected to die down on Tuesday afternoon, and a high pressure system would build over the country on Wednesday, bringing more settled weather.
