Severe gusts hitting speeds of up to 155km/h (96mph) have resulted in around 90,000 homes experiencing outages and led agencies to call off more than 100 flights, according to local media.
These gusts are impacting the complete southern region and southern sections of the North Island, per the country's meteorological service.
Officials in New Zealand have announced rare red wind warnings - the highest alert level - in central regions including Wellington and Canterbury.
Locals have been urged to stay indoors, avoid travel, and make arrangements for further electricity and network failures.
Broad Destruction and Crisis Response
This outage seems to be impacting homes predominantly in the South Island, while authorities state that energy was being slowly brought back.
Local media have stated that in some places roofs have been ripped off houses, whereas power lines and trees have been knocked down by the gusts.
In Wellington, a individual was killed after being struck by a tree branch at a well-known hiking path on earlier this week.
Also in the capital, a individual was blown onto approaching vehicles on a road by a powerful blast, in a incident that was captured in a widely shared car camera footage.
Flights in and out of the urban area have been cancelled because of the weather, while various routes and public facilities are not operating.
At the same time Canterbury officials have issued a state of emergency, to assist disaster response efforts.
Labor Protests Alongside Severe Weather
The wild winds on today come as tens of thousands of teachers, doctors and other public workers are participating in what has been described as a "mega strike", requesting improved salaries and workplace environments.
However the intense climate has pressured them to alter some of their plans, with various open-air gatherings shifted to interior venues or cancelled.
Comparable winds are impacting Australia, causing a high-temperature event to the nation's interior regions.
Agencies have declared fire bans for apprehension regarding wildfires.
