Emergency services in Canterbury have been kept busy today dealing with damaging wind gusts.
The Southerly storm making its way up the South Island brought snow to Southland and bitterly cold temperatures to Canterbury.
Christchurch resident Linda Aitken's home was just one of many wind related jobs for emergency services today.
"I was just sitting inside having some lunch and I heard some noise and went out to investigate…. well actually looked through the window and the tree was down and watched it ping the power cord out of the house."
Fortunately the tree missed her house, but Aitkens was left with a mess.
"Because it's an old tree its got a huge root system. It just lifted the whole fence up out of the ground, and the problem now is the live power wires that we are waiting for somebody to do something about."
The strong winds also lifted roofing iron.
Wind gusts of up to 90 km/h were recorded in Christchurch, while up on the Port Hills they reached 120 km/h.
They're forecast to ease tonight, much to the relief of these Cantabrians facing a bit of a clean-up.
Newshub.
