Richard Rika outside his Ngongotaha after a tree crashed through the roof.
Wild weather has brought down trees and left some residents without power in the Rotorua region - while dropping temperatures saw Mt Tarawera dusted with snow.
Auckland was the area worst hit by Tuesday night's storm, with 100,000 homes and businesses without power as winds reached hurricane-like speeds of between140km/h and 213km/h.
And while Rotorua got off relatively lightly in comparison, high winds did leave damage in their wake.
Image 1 of 14: Snow on Mt Tarawera. Photo/Karen Read
By midday yesterday treefalls on 12 roads were reported to Rotorua Lakes Council, including a tree that took out power lines on Okataina Rd.
And on Cecil Rd near Mamaku, a pine tree fell through power lines and across the road, leaving Abi Lister's home cut off and in total darkness from 1am.
When Lister went to drop her son at school yesterday she saw a concrete pole had fallen into three pieces and "there was a bloody great big pine tree in the way".
"I had to reverse home for two kilometres as there's no room to turn around."
She saw a Unison ute make its way up the road and her husband also tried to report the outage.
Nearby in Streamdale Pl a tree fell on a car in the storm.
A tree fell on a car in Streamdale Pl, Ngongotaha. Photo / Gloria Stafford
Sarah McGovern said she was shocked at the sight at the end of her cul-de-sac.
"Thank goodness it happened at night or else it could have been similar to the one in town [when a tree came down on Arawa St and killed motorist Trish Butterworth]."
The Ngongotaha Volunteer Fire Brigade was called out at 2.30am to clear trees that had fallen across passing lanes on State Highway 5, near the Tarukenga substation.
Chief fire officer Francis Boag said a crew spent an hour clearing the road.
