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Wild weather is forecast to ease after battering much of central New Zealand on Friday, but many are still without power and the town of Martinborough is cut off.
On Friday night, firefighters were called to 165 weather-related events, including helping with loose roofing, sheds being blown away and trees falling onto buildings.
MetService's last weather watches for heavy rain and strong winds were cleared from the map at 6am on Saturday, with rain or cloud and showers expected for much of the country during the day, while Wellingtonians should expect intermittent heavy rain and winds.
Winds speeds recorded at Wellington's Mount Kaukau had reduced from the peak of about 150 kilometres/hour on Friday, to about 100 kilometres on Saturday.
People have been asked to stay off the roads in Wairarapa due to flooding and damage, local councils there said on Saturday morning.
The Solway Copthorne hotel at the south end of Masterton had been evacuated, and many Wairarapa roads were closed, including Castlepoint Road.
"There are no alternative routes in or out of Martinborough. All routes are closed," South Wairarapa District Council said.
In South Wairarapa some spillways were still open, and Turanganui Bridge on Lake Ferry Road, which was badly damaged in February, was washed out.
More than 2500 households were still without power on Saturday morning, in Waikato, Coromandel Peninsula, Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatū and the Wellington Region, including Wairarapa - down from the 7000 properties in the dark on Friday.
About 200 flights in and out of Wellington Airport were cancelled on Friday due to the severe gales, leaving many travellers stranded, but on Saturday morning most arrivals and departures were going ahead.
Wellington Airport said it had resumed "normal operations", but warned there may still be flow-on disruptions as airlines cleared their backlog: "Passengers are advised to check directly with their airlines for information on specific flights," it said.
Wellington Electricity chief executive Greg Skelton said some residents would be waking up without power, but some outages might not be mended until early next week.
The agency would provide details today about when work is expected to begin for single-property faults. "Emergency and safety‑related issues are being addressed as a priority," it said.
Powerco said damage to the network from the storm was significant, but crews are out working on the lines, and they hope to have power back to everyone as quickly as possible.
The stormy weather system is expected to move east throughout Saturday MetService meteorologist Alanna Burrows said.
"We have got some strong winds still at Wellington at the moment, associated with that low to the north west, and we are seeing some periods of rain - it could be a little bit heavy this morning at times. And that's gradually easing as that low is continuing to pull away from the country."
In the Hutt Valley, the Hutt River level had been falling since midnight, and had lowered from its peak of more than 300 cubic metres per second last night, to 229 cubic metres/sec by 6am Saturday.
