Severe winds and heavy rain sweep across New Zealand

A fast-moving weather front has brought severe gales and heavy rain across the South Island, with wind gusts reaching approximately 200km/h at a Canterbury High Country site about 2000m above sea level. The extreme weather caused the closure of State Highway 94 at Milford Road and led police to shut a section of Wellington's waterfront between Oriental Bay and Haitaitai. Reports from Wellington indicated that high winds blew wing mirrors off cars and caused multiple people to fall from bicycles.

Heavy rain has impacted the West Coast, with Milford Sound recording 154mm of rain. Westland was forecast to receive between 200mm and 250mm of rain, with up to 300mm possible near isolated peaks. Orange heavy rain warnings were issued for Fiordland, the Grey and Buller districts, and the headwaters of the Otago and Canterbury lakes and rivers.

In the North Island, Wellington faced orange strong wind warnings with gusts up to 120km/h forecast for exposed areas. Castle Point recorded a gust of 141km/h at 8am on Monday, while Kelburn recorded 122km/h. The front is expected to move across the North Island on Tuesday before clearing to the north-east by the end of the day.

Temperatures in the south saw a significant shift due to the Foehn effect, which caused Dunedin to reach 26°C on Monday before a sharp drop was forecast. Following the front, a cold south-westerly flow is expected to bring cooler temperatures and showers for the remainder of the week.

How it developed

• Mon 26 Oct, 1:46pmThe latest report specifies that the Wellington waterfront closure was due to people falling from bicycles and wing mirrors being blown off cars.

Where reports differ

• Reports vary on the specific wind gust recorded at the high-altitude Canterbury site, with one citing 168km/h and another citing approximately 200km/h
• Rainfall totals for Westland ranges were reported as up to 350mm in one instance and 250mm in others

Compiled from reports by NZ Herald, Otago Daily Times, Stuff, RNZ and 1News.