LATEST: High winds forced a plane to abort two landing attempts in Wellington this morning, with the plane having to return to Auckland.
Gale force winds of up to 130kmh are forecast in Wellington today and MetService is warning residents to take precautions.
Air New Zealand flight 417 failed to land and was turned back to Auckland.
Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said the pilot made two attempts to land but conditions were too blustery and the flight had to turn back to Auckland.
The outbound flight NZ432 Wellington-Auckland which was due to depart at midday is cancelled.
The Fire Service has attended 12 weather-related callouts this morning in Wellington, Masterton and Eketahuna.
Those call-outs were related to trees down in some places, as well as telephone and power lines down, Wellington fire shift commander Mike Wanoa said.
He said to have 12 callouts with such high winds was not many. "We got away with it this time".
High winds have also been causing problems in Wellington Harbour today.
A large, high-sided car carrier was unable to berth at Aotea Quay this morning because of the weather.
Harbourmaster Mike Pryce said the Trans Future 5 had arrived about 10.15am and had not been able to berth. The carrier was now circling near the heads where the wind was calmer until things died down. Winds were gusting 55 knots in the harbour.
East by West ferries had been cancelled though other ferries were running at this stage.
Forecaster Oliver Druce said it was going to be a stormy day. "We will have gale force winds with big gusts. There will be north-west gales and rain until 6pm this evening when there will be a southerly change."
Things were set to "miraculously clear up" later tonight but not before the winds grew stronger.
Winds of up to 120kmh had been recorded in Kelburn this morning.
Campers who stayed in Wairarapa overnight for the Toast Martinborough festival woke to high winds this morning.
MetService warned the winds had the potential to damage insecure structures, trees and powerlines and make driving difficult, especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.
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