Strong winds have hit the South today, closing roads, affecting flights and making for a busy time for emergency services.
Dunedin Airport advised earlier today that several flights were either delayed or cancelled, but by mid afternoon services appeared to be running to schedule.
In Southland, emergency services were called out to several incidents related to the winds.
Invercargill fire station officer Aaron Ramsay said the crews had been busy.
"We had calls from all over Southland. Just the Invercargill station had more than six...there were a few signs around the town being blown around and a trampoline in Winton."
Officer Ramsay said they received reports of the roof being lifted by the wind.
"We are trying to fix to avoid the roof being blow so it needs some work.
"The whole day we got calls like that."
The winds are making life tricky for motorists, closing two key Canterbury highways for several hours.
A stretch of State Highway 1 between Oamaru and Timaru reopened early this evening after a closure owing to smoke from a vegetation fire creating poor visibility.
Fire and Emergency shift manager Daryl Nixon earlier said the fire was in the Waimate area and the road was closed between Lower Hook Rd and Kingsbury Rd.
Detours were in place.
Meanwhile, Waka Kotahi said the winds had brought down power poles and an overhead electricity line south of Twizel on SH8, closing the road between Twizel and Glenbrook.
In an update shortly after 8pm, Waka Kotahi advised the road had reopened.
Keenan said the winds had caused several accidents in recent days.
“In South Canterbury, we have had five vehicles towing boats or caravans flip over or be blown off the road in the past four days.
"Two of these crashes caused road closures on SH8, between Omarama and Fairlie and SH80, the road into Aoraki/ Mt Cook on Sunday. It is extremely dangerous for car occupants and nearby road users if this occurs.”
While the strong winds are set to ease by Thursday, MetService has heavy rain and snow watches in place for the South over the coming days.
The forecaster says rainfall could approach warning criteria for Otago, Southland and Clutha through Thursday into Friday.
"Initially the rain will be in a northwesterly flow with heavier falls near the main divide, but widespread southerly rain is expected to spread north from late Thursday."
Additionally, on Friday snow is forecast in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes, where rain is expected to turn to snow above 500 metres. Heavy snowfall is possible above 700 metres, where amounts may approach warning criteria.
- ODT Online/Luisa Girao/additional reporting NZ Herald
