Power has been partially restored as "significant parts" of the top of the South Island and West Coast experienced outages this morning as strong winds batter the country.
Marlborough Lines said around 9500 homes were still without power this morning.
Network Tasman said a fault on the national grid had affected its entire network, resulting in outages across Nelson and Tasman – most areas have since been reconnected.
It said, however, "further outages may occur due to wild weather across the South Island".
Nelson Hospital said it was running on generator supply while the network was resetablished.
"A backup battery kept critical systems running during the outage, and no patients were impacted," Health New Zealand regional director Pete Watson said.
"I want to acknowledge the efforts of staff who worked to keep patients safe during this time."
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Westpower's website said more than 3400 households on the West Coast were affected by multiple outages across the region.
In an update, Transpower said power had been restored in Greymouth, Stoke, Blenheim, Culverden and Kaikoura.
It said power should be fully restored by around midday, provided there were no further issues on the network.
"While the severe weather event continues, further outages are possible. We will continue to work hard to restore power while keeping our crews safe," Transpower said.
"More details will be provided on Transpower’s website and Facebook page. People can also check the websites of their retailers and local lines companies for up-to-date outage information."
Marlborough north of Cape Campbell was under an orange strong wind warning with gusts of up to 130 km/h possible, while Nelson, Tasman and parts of the West Coast were under a strong wind watch.
In Wellington, around 200 households were without power due to the winds.
Wellington Electricity said it would prioritise faults that presented a danger to public safety, as well as those safe enough for crews to work on.
"In some cases, we cannot start our restoration until the wind speed reduces to allow crews to safely work at height.
"We'll then work on fixing smaller faults and restoring power to any individual properties that might still be without power."
In Wairarapa, Powerco was using a break in the weather to assess damage from the air.
"Crews are continuing to reconnect customers affected by Tuesday’s high winds. As of 11am, 976 customers remain without power in Wairarapa – down from 1,700 late yesterday afternoon. The single largest outage is 427 customers in Riversdale on the eastern coast, where lines came down Tuesday morning. "
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including serious weather warnings for rain and life threatening winds, more than 100,000 public sector workers on strike, and the tourism hotspots in the global travel spotlight. (Source: 1News)
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