Wind gusts reached 135 km/h in central Wellington overnight, MetService says. In Wairarapa, winds gusted to 125km/h at the Remutaka Hill summit and 140km/h at Castle Point, and reached 105km/h in exposed parts of Marlborough.
Some flights into Wellington Airport were delayed, diverted or cancelled yesterday due to wind.
This morning the first Air New Zealand flights from Hamilton, Dunedin, New Plymouth and Timaru to Wellington were cancelled.
The airline said this was due to yesterday's disruption, with some aircraft not being in the right places to carry out scheduled flights.
Fire and Emergency were called out to at least 28 incidents in Wellington from 6pm yesterday as the gales tore through the capital.
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the callouts were mostly due to loose roofing and building parts in central Wellington, and calls for assistance also came in from Lower Hutt.
An orange wind warning is in place for Wellington, Wairarapa and Marlborough Sounds until 9am, while a strong wind watch is in place for the rest of Marlborough, the Canterbury plains and Christchurch, Otago, especially inland areas, and Fiordland and Southland including Stewart Island.
