A year after a storm that produced the strongest gust ever recorded at Centre Island in Foveaux Strait, Invercargill City Council has removed more than 1000 trees from its parks and reserves, Queens Park has reopened, and the region's lines company has put its repair bill at about $7 million.
The storm struck on 23 October 2025, arriving with little warning on what had begun as a clear spring day.
Emergency Management Southland group controller Lucy Hicks has said the MetService wind warning went from orange to red in about 15 minutes, the fastest escalation she had seen.
The strongest gust, 174km/h, was recorded at Centre Island, the highest reading there since records began in 2008. The peak lasted about 22 minutes. Invercargill Airport recorded 137km/h, its second-strongest gust since 1995.
Nobody was killed or seriously hurt, but the damage was extensive. Fire and Emergency crews answered more than 100 callouts in Invercargill that day, and a state of local emergency was declared for Southland on 24 October. It was not lifted until 7 November.
Power out for up to two weeks
More than 50,000 PowerNet customers lost power, some for up to two weeks, with falling trees responsible for much of the damage to lines. PowerNet chief executive Paul Blue has described it as the biggest event in the company's history, with repairs costing about $7 million.
Around 200 Southland dairy farms ran on generators in the days that followed, and 22 cellphone towers in the region were knocked out.
The council later put its own damage bill at about $2.39 million, covering parks, roads, elderly housing and the clearance of fallen trees.
Queens Park closed for the first time
Every council park, reserve and sports field was closed after the storm, including Queens Park, which had never been shut to the public in its 170-year history.
Council arborists climbed and pruned more than 630 trees and removed more than 1000. A further 60 came down in July 2026, among them some of the oldest in the Town Belt, and the clean-up has produced about 1200 tonnes of wood and logs.
Queens Park reopened in stages, with the bulk of the park open again by the end of January 2026.
Caroline Rain, the council's manager of parks and recreation, has said replacing a 100-year-old tree is not a simple matter. The council is finalising an updated Tree Plan for 2026 alongside landscape planning for Queens Park.
The storm has also sharpened debate about where big trees belong. Deputy Mayor Grant Dermody has called for the removal of large council-owned trees close to the roading network.
"By the act of God, we haven't got someone dead," he said.
Mayor Tom Campbell has praised council staff and contractors for their work during the recovery, and Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell attended a media briefing in the region during the response.
Insurers were still tallying the cost weeks later. Rural insurer FMG alone had received about 1500 wind-damage claims in Southland by 20 November.
A year on, the most visible legacy is in the parks: gaps in the canopy where mature trees had stood for a century, and a replanting job that the council's own parks manager has warned cannot be rushed.
