By thunder what a great show

Wild weather that unleashed a spectacular electrical storm also wreaked havoc on commuters, creating a horror landing at Wellington airport and a Cook Strait swell that delayed ferries.

And a man in Tawa, Wellington, was crushed by a falling tree yesterday.

Lightning, house-rattling thunder, strong winds and heavy rain hit Wellington on Tuesday night.

MetService spokeswoman Liz Haslam said the thunder was louder than normal because the storm rolled right over the city, and was accompanied by hail.

"The sound level depends on how big the storm is, but it has the ability to shake houses, like last night.

"You can feel it through your body."

Ms Haslam said the light show, caused by both sheet and fork lightning, was spectacular.

"Wellington doesn't get thunder storms much, so it's exciting when it happens."

Frequent flier Steffan Browning said the landing of his Blenheim flight at Wellington yesterday morning was the worst he had experienced.

The 12-seater air2there plane was tossed around in turbulence.

Manuals and books stacked near the pilot flew around the cabin and one passenger was cut on the forehead after hitting it on the ceiling, he said.

"I travel on these flights every other week and Wellington is often pretty rocky - but this was very unsettling."

Mr Browning said full credit was to be given to the pilot for the eventual safe landing.

Six-metre swells also delayed ferry crossings by up to two hours yesterday.

"It would have been a rough ride, but passengers had an option to change to a later ferry crossing if they wished," an Interislander spokeswoman said.

In Tawa, a surveyor was injured when he was hit by a falling tree at the motorway on-ramp yesterday morning.

The 55-year-old man was taken to Wellington Hospital with moderate back injuries. Firefighters had to cut away part of the tree to let ambulance officers treat him.

The chaos was caused by a deep low that developed east of New Zealand, and a very strong south-to-southwest airstream that covered the North Island.

- © Fairfax NZ News