A lightning strike on a Wellington substation cut electricity to about 4000 homes this morning.
The power was off for about an hour in the suburbs of Newlands, Johnsonville and Paparangi after the lightning hit about 6.15am.
The area's lines company said all problems had been fixed.
During the cut, traffic lights were out at the Ngauranga motorway interchange and streetlights weren't working along State Highway 2 between Ngauranga Gorge and Petone.
The lightning strike follows wild weather yesterday, when a tornado tore through a pā north of Hokitika and there were thousands of lightning strikes across Waikato, the King Country and the southern part of Auckland.
MetService has lifted its warning for severe thunderstorms in western areas of the North Island this morning.
But it is forecasting heavy rain, especially for Westland from Otira southwards, and strong to gale force winds for western parts of the country over the next few days.
