The road to Glenorchy will remain closed overnight, after a huge storm cut power to thousands of residents in the Queenstown Lakes area.
Aurora Energy says a lightning strike at the Frankton grid exit point caused the power to go out in Queenstown, Glenorchy, Frankton and parts of Arrowtown this morning.
In a statement shortly after 10.30am, Aurora said more than 12,000 customers lost power due to the strike. At that time it said there were still 314 customers in the Frankton area waiting to get their power restored, but in a subsequent update said power had been restored to all users.
Aurora earlier said that by 9am power had been restored to most areas, including the Queenstown CBD, the Remarkables, Arrowtown and Glenorchy.
Lakes District Hospital was running on a back-up generator and a Southern DHB spokesperson said the hospital was operational and providing services.
The SDHB emergency management team is in touch with the hospital and is monitoring the situation.
The Queenstown-Lakes District Council said the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd is closed at Boundary Creek due to a washed-out culvert, and warned that heavy rain may cause other slips in the area.
The road would remain closed overnight, it advised on a Facebook post.
"Despite working hard to clear a lane through the slip, a severe blockage of the culvert means a significant amount of water and debris continues to run across the road.
In addition, there's a lot of material along the potential 'cleared' route which has a risk of slumping onto any vehicles passing through, and the forecast is for more heavy rain."
Crews would be on-site first thing tomorrow morning. The council said it was working with Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management, the Department of Conservation and local groups to assess community needs, especially of those who need to get in or out of the township.
Further afield, Waka Kotahi/ NZ Transport Agency advises that the Milford Road (State Highway 94), which had been closed by a slip this morning, has now reopened.
The transport agency this morning said some traffic lights were not working in Queenstown because of the outage.
"Give way rules apply, road users are advised to take extra care."
The outage affected Queenstown Airport but it says its back-up generators are running and the airport is operational.
A Lake Hayes Estate resident said there was a massive lightning flash and thunder clap at 7am, like she had never heard before.
“(It) shook our whole house.”
Comments on social media described the "loudest thunder ever", and "blinding lightning, heavy rain and thunder shaking the house".
MetService says there was "a moderate risk" of thunderstorms about the entire South Island west coast and Southern Alps through the morning.
There was also a low risk of one or two thunderstorms about Southland, Clutha and Dunedin during the early morning.
- ODT Online/additional reporting RNZ
