Southland mayor Rob Scott has painted a grim picture of the situation in the district, with power outages and fallen trees.

"The region is getting pretty hammered by the weather, lots of damage to buildings and trees down," he said.

"With lots of power outages our water and wastewater schemes are under pressure with emergency generators being provided."

On Thursday afternoon, Southland District Council said the water supply in Riverton Aparima was "running dangerously low".

"Reserves are estimated to run out within the next three hours.

"Power is off to the water treatment plant and unlikely to be reconnected for another 4-5 hours."

A council spokesperson said they were speaking with contractors to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Southland district residents were being asked to conserve water due to treatment plants losing power.

The council's main office on Forth St, Invercargill, was damaged in the wind and had closed to the public for the day.

The organisation also said the roof had come off the Fonterra dairy factory building in Edendale, half an hour from Invercargill, which was “very dangerous”.

Emergency Management Southland controller Lucy Hicks said people should stay put in a safe place.

“We’re aware of widespread damage to buildings and fallen trees. If in immediate danger, call 111.

“People should avoid all travel, stay indoors, and prepare for power, water and communication outages.”

A red wind warning is in place for coastal parts of Clutha, Southland and Stewart Island/Rakiura until 4pm today.

Wind gusts of 150km/hr have been forecast for exposed places.

Invercargill City Council is also warning of disruptions to both the city and Bluff.

Mayor elect Tom Campbell was encouraging people to stay safe.

“Stay home, if you can. There is a lot of trees coming down, there’s flying debris around the place, and if you don’t have to leave home then you really should stay there.”

In a statement, the council said multiple trees had fallen across the city and flying debris was posing a serious risk to safety.

A number of areas and services were closed or suspended.

That included Invercargill bus services, the Invercargill and Bluff Transfer Stations, Bluff Service Centre and all parks and reserves.

“For your safety, please avoid all parks and reserves until conditions improve and our teams have had a chance to assess any damage,” the council said.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.