Extroardinary Storm Hits New Zealand

New Zealand

Wellington - What weather forecasters warned would be 'no ordinarystorm' blasted New Zealand on Saturday, bringing down power lines, toppling trees and ripping roofs from houses with gale force winds and torrential rains.

Winds gusting to 165 kilometres an hour were recorded at Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands and news reports said that power supplies to at least 65,000 homes had been cut and it was too dangerous for linemen to fix them.