Severe gales, heavy rain: Weather warnings for North and South Islands

A raft of domestic flights have been cancelled or delayed at Wellington Airport amid high winds.

Orange strong wind warnings were in place for Wairarapa, Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds from Thursday until 10am Friday.

MetService warned those in the lower North Island and upper South Island of severe gale northwesterlies gusting up to 120 kilometres an hour in exposed places.

Fire and Emergency said it had sent firefighters to three places where building or roof materials were reportedly lifting in the wind, and two callouts for low-hanging powerlines or telephone lines.

Nine flights to or from Wellington Airport had been cancelled by Thursday evening, and some had been delayed.

Air New Zealand spokesperson David Morgan said the airline was working on re-accommodating customers, but seats on some flights were limited because of the long weekend.

A taxi driver reported seeing cyclists blown off their bikes by wind gusts in Evans Bay, near the airport.

A strong wind warning was also in place for the Canterbury High Country until 1am Friday.

Heavy rain warnings were issued for the Tararua Range, Westland, and the ranges of the Buller, Grey and Tasman districts until Friday morning.

Further heavy rain was expected Friday evening and Saturday in some areas.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said in a post on X that heavy rain would affect most of the South Island.

"At least localised flooding cannot be ruled out."

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