Wellington city council spokesperson Richard Maclean said there had been reports of fallen trees and branches all throughout Wellington, from the eastern surburbs to Karori and Northland.
"We've got gale force winds that have been blowing from about 10pm last night and they're expecting to carry on until early this afternoon," Maclean said.
"Our advice to motorists is just to take it easy out there, especially on your morning commute. You might come around a corner and see a branch down or a tree down."
Two houses were evacuated in Whitby, Porirua, last night after part of a bank collapsed into one of them at about 8pm.
Fire crews had responded to 21 weather-related callouts between 7pm last night and 5am this morning, for reasons such as fallen trees, flash flooding and flying trampolines.
All harbour ferry sailings have been cancelled in Wellington this morning, with shuttles running instead, and Wellington Airport advised flights could also be delayed due to the strong winds.
Porirua City Council was planning for a busy day ahead, and would reactivate its Emergency Operations Centre at 9am. They would also be providing skip bins to assist with the cleanup.
This follows severe flash flooding in Plimmerton on Sunday, which had forced 15 families to flee their homes.
Wellington was likely to hit a high of just 13C on the first day of the meteorological summer, MetService advised.
This was not only 6C below average for the time of year but colder than the 15C high recorded for the first day of winter, on June 1.
But a change was expected towards the middle of December in the capital, with warmer temperatures and more settled conditions.
