190kph gusts, 3000 lightning strikes hit

Gusts of up to 190kph have been recorded in the South Island, causing a main highway to close and power outages across Canterbury.

Yesterday, more than 3000 lightning strikes lit up the sky along the mountain ranges.

Meanwhile, State Highway 1 was blocked after winds downed a large tree near Karitane, north of Dunedin.

There were several power outages across North Canterbury, with hundreds affected in Glenroy, Hororata, Lake Coleridge, Rakaia Gorge, Terrace Downs, Windwhistle, Darfield and surrounding areas.

MetService issued heavy rain and strong wind warnings for many regions across the South Island, with Canterbury lakes and Westland, south of Otira, likely to be lashed with up to 450mm of rain.

The weather service also warned that, combined with snow melt, rain in the Canterbury lakes area could cause significant spillover.

Selwyn Civil Defence activated its emergency operations centre yesterday afternoon to monitor the situation and liaise with other agencies and emergency services.

Fiordland and the Otago lakes will also face a deluge of rain, with an upper estimate in the forecast of 320mm. The rain could cause flooding and slips, MetService said.

Fulton Hogan advised that SH6 Haast Pass was closed because of fallen trees.

West Coast Civil Defence regional director Claire Brown recommended people stay home if they could and to take care over the next 24 hours as most weather warnings on the West Coast were in place until this afternoon.

MetService meteorologist Kathryn Hodge said 74mm of rain was recorded at Aoraki Mt Cook in the six hours since midnight yesterday.

Thunderstorms on top of the heavy rain was bringing lightning and more than 3000 strikes had been recorded since midnight, Hodge said.

Along with the rain had come some strong winds, with the South Island again being the worst affected.

Wind warnings were in place for Marlborough, Otago, Fiordland, Southland and Stewart Island.

Overnight, gusts of 190kph were recorded at the Mt Hutt summit, while 180kph was recorded at 4am yesterday in Otago.

According to MetService, both Ashburton and Dunedin recorded their strongest wind gusts this year at 107kph.

Mt Hutt Ski Area was closed yesterday with winds expected to reach more than 200kph and an update for the next opening was to be provided at 6am today.