Storm The Size Of Australia Hits New Zealand

A storm the size of Australia has whipped New Zealand leaving tens of thousands of people without power and a stadium roof crashing down. Skip related content

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Roofs were lifted and trees uprooted as hurricane-force winds swept across the country and lightning strikes ignited fires.

It was second natural disaster to hit the country in a fortnight.
The South Island city of Christchurch escaped the worst of the storm but continued to rocked up a series of aftershocks up to magnitude 4.5.
The storm, described by the independent weatherwatch.co.nz website as "one of the largest on the planet" stretched the emergency services.
A spokesman from the Fire Service northern communications centre said: "Most of the calls were about fallen trees across roads or property, and roofs lifting."
Nearly 100,000 people lost electricity supplies overnight Friday and by Saturday afternoon 17,000 were still waiting to be reconnected.
Winds reached hurricane force on the coast west of the main city of Auckland as gusts up to 96mph swept in from the Tasman Sea.
In the lower North Island, there were over 100 lightning strikes, sparking fires in at least one building and several trees.
Snow was the biggest threat in the South Island where police advised people to stay off the roads, describing them as "treacherous".
In the southern city of Invercargill the roof of a stadium collapsed under the weight of snow.
There have been no reported casualties.