Slips, trees crash down on Wellington roads while businesses take financial hit

As winds of 100kmh lash the capital, slips and trees block off suburban roads.

A strong wind watch is in place for Wellington, Kāpiti Coast, and the coastal areas of Hawke's Bay until 3pm.

The Wellington City Council said a slip came down on Stock Street in Brooklyn this morning, blocking the road.

Meanwhile near Tawa, multiple trees have come down on Takapu Road.

Crews are attending both scenes, the council said.

The public has been asked to take care on roads and avoid parks and reserves, as falling trees and branches may be dangerous in the current conditions.

A resident also came across a slip on Waitoa Road in Hataitai on Thursday morning, which appeared to have fallen against a parked car.

The Hutt City Council said no roads are closed in Lower Hutt due to flooding, however, there were areas of standing water following the heavy rain overnight.

They also asked motorists to drive to conditions.

MetService said people should look out for fallen trees hitting roads.

It said the weather is forecast to ease this evening and into the long weekend - however temperatures are looking cold.

Wellington Central is forecast to have temperatures around 7C on Friday and Saturday.

Bluebridge cancelled all ferries for the day, except an early passing from Picton which ran without passengers.

Interislander, however, is still operating and reported a low chance of cancellations.

Air Chathams cancelled one service from Chatham Islands to Wellington, due to the weather in both locations, delaying the flight until Friday.

Power Co said about 450 customers are without power across the North Island, with about 100 in Warea, 70 in Wairarapa, and 50 in Pungarehu.

"Crews will work as quickly as they can to restore supply to affected customers impacted by weather-related outages as quickly and safely as they can, as weather conditions enable."

The company said it was unable to provide estimated restoration times for some outages at the moment.

Wellington Electricity reported no power outages.

Hotspot takes financial hit from weather

A holiday hotspot in the Greater Wellington region has taken a financial hit as the area continues to be battered by torrential downpours and strong winds.

Hospitality businesses in Martinborough have been flooded with cancellations and lost income ahead of the usually busy long weekend - and they say that money is now lost forever.

The main road into town through the Waihenga Bridge on State Highway 53 has been closed and all bridges in the South Wairarapa township are shut because of flooding.

The threshold to close the main road at Waihenga Bridge has been lowered since heavy rain caused damage at the end of June.

Martinborough Hotel's owner Tim Smith said he had lost $6000 by 10am as 18 guest nights were cancelled.

But he said his business was lucky as it would bounce back once the road opened.

"People are having real damage to their businesses around Martinborough. I think we've probably escaped a little bit compared to those that come Monday will open their doors," he said.

"Our real worry is that, the bridge, if it doesn't open that this becomes our new normal."

He said the 100-year-old Waihenga Bridge needed to be replaced.

Vineyard owner Phillip McArthur said the closure of the main roads stopped business in its tracks.

"It's pretty scary cause the industry - hospo and the grape industries- has been not as strong as it has been in the past. So we're at a point where we're really struggling with anything that's outside the norm," he said.

McArthur said bookings at his vineyard, Moy Hall, had fallen by 60 percent compared with last year.

He said there was only one Matariki weekend a year - the money lost this week could not be made back.

He added that the loss of customers would impact the wider local economy.

Discover Wairarapa's Kate Kerr, who manages about 17 properties across Martinborough and Greytown, said she had been fielding calls from people asking about access to the town.

The alternative route into Martinborough goes through Longbush, adding about 25 minutes to the travel time.

Luckily, she said she had not had any cancellations for the Matariki weekend.