Queenstown Lakes District Council’s has had to close Centennial Ave in Arrowtown from Suffolk Street to town due to downed trees from high winds.
MetService has a severe wind warning in place for Otago until 11am. Northwest gales are forecast to be severe at times, with gusts reaching 120 km/h.
Queenstown Lakes District Council say only a few trees have downed in Arrowtown but there is plenty of debris. Crews are working to remove all of it now.
Another tree is down on Speargrass Flat Road, and they’ve had reports of trees down elsewhere around the region which they’re working to confirm.
Downer, who is contracted by the council, has crews out checking roads and clearing debris, while also responding to calls
Fire and Emergency NZ’s warned residents about the severe fire risk. Any old fires need to be completely out as they could reignite in the winds.
Deputy principal rural fire officer Mark Mawhinney told 1 NEWS yesterday: "We're very concerned about the weather forecast for the next 24 hours and we just need to put in place some contingencies so that if we have an event we're able to manage that in quick manner."
Aurora Energy is responding to an unplanned power outage in Wanaka where crew are making fault repairs.
The outage was reported shortly after 8am.
"Our response crew is now on site and is making repairs. Power could be restored at any time, so please treat all lines and electrical equipment as live at all times," a warning on its website says.
The outage, which affects Maungawera Valley Road, is expected to be restored by 11.10am.
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