About 600 people are without power in the Far North tonight as strong winds tear through the region.

Severe weather warnings are in place for Northland and Canterbury where winds up to 120 kilometres an hour were forecast.

The warning continues overnight.

A Northland Civil Defence spokeswoman said about 600 people were without power as a result of wind damage.

She said it was not clear how long it would be out but said others in the Far North should expect further outages overnight.

There were also high waves at Ahipara, but no other reports of damage.

In Canterbury, there were strong winds and rain but no reports of damage.

The MetService has issued a heavy rain warning for Southland from Sunday through until Monday.

Meanwhile in Wellington, more than 110 people were without power.

Lines company Wellington Electricity said it was now back.

The outage was not believed to be weather-related.