Intense gales reaching velocities of up to 155km/h (96mph) have left around 90,000 households lacking electricity and compelled authorities to halt more than 100 aircraft departures, based on local media.
The winds are influencing the whole southern region and lower areas of the North Island, per the national weather agency.
The nation's agencies have announced rare high-level wind alerts - the top caution category - in key areas including Canterbury and Wellington.
People have been encouraged to remain inside, refrain from journeys, and make arrangements for further power and communication outages.
Broad Destruction and Emergency Response
This outage seems to be impacting homes predominantly in the South Island, while authorities say that the electricity supply was being restored progressively.
Local media have indicated that in some places homes have lost their roofs, while trees and electricity poles have been knocked down by the winds.
Across Wellington, a man was lost his life after being impacted by a tree branch at a popular trail walking spot on Tuesday.
Also in the capital, a individual was pushed toward moving cars on a road by a intensive burst, in a event that was recorded in a viral dashcam video.
Aircraft services in and out of the city have been suspended due to the gusts, whereas various routes and public facilities are shut down.
At the same time Canterbury officials have issued a state of emergency, to assist emergency management operations.
Labor Protests Amid Extreme Conditions
The wild winds on Thursday occur while many of educators, medical professionals and government employees are participating in what has been called a "mega strike", requesting better pay and working conditions.
However the extreme weather has compelled them to change various scheduled activities, with various open-air gatherings moved indoors or called off.
Similar gusts are also sweeping the nearby nation, bringing a high-temperature event to the nation's interior regions.
Agencies have issued burning restrictions for concern about forest fires.
