Storm rips through North

Fierce winds uprooted large trees, tore roofs from buildings and ripped boats from their moorings as the wildest weather in many years thrashed Northland.
Winds up to 120km/h lashed much of the region, but most damage was inflicted on the mid and far North.
In Mangonui Harbour a tuna boat moored in the channel sank about 100m from the wharf, and a ketch was driven onto rocks.
The MetService recorded a whopping wind gust of 138km/h at Cape Reinga yesterday lunchtime.
Emergency services throughout Northland cleared dozens of trees from roads and secured several loose roofs, including a huge canopy at Dargaville Caltex.
The 40m by 10m roof over the service station's forecourt was kept from flying away by an ingenious system that included trucks blocking the wind and a digger holding down the canopy.
Caltex workers knew something was wrong when they heard a banging sound from the roof about 11.30am.
When attendant Sue Arnesen saw pieces fly off the roof, she asked customers to leave and dialled 111.
Manager Diane Parsons said staff were shaken by the experience.
"It was just really scary to think that things could fall down from the roof," she said.
In the same district, high winds also lifted a 3m by 1.5m section of roof from St Andrew's church at Baylys Beach. Firefighters cut the flapping section off around 3pm because they feared it would fly off.
Further north in Kaitaia, part of the old Tanner Group Ltd's timber mill roof was so close to blowing off that the main road between Kaitaia and Ahipara was closed in case it endangered traffic.
Kaitaia deputy chief fire officer Colin Kitchen said powerlines were down "everywhere".
"We're pretty exposed up here so when we do get it, it really hits us," Mr Kitchen said.
Far North Coastguard radio operator Maureen MacMillan said she hadn't seen such severe weather in 24 years. "It's unbelievable. The wind is really screaming," she said yesterday afternoon.
"It's worse than anybody ever thought," said Mrs MacMillan, referring to the severe weather warning Northlanders received over the weekend.
Other Coastguard operations in the Far North reported no trouble because no boaties had ventured out. However, moored boats bounced around in the four metre swells and high winds.
Weather forecasts show the deep low will continue until Tuesday afternoon, bringing 80km/h winds. MetService forecaster Paul Mallinson said the temperature will also drop tomorrow as a southerly front comes over the North.
Mr Mallinson predicted heavy showers, thunderstorms and 90km/h westerly winds this afternoon before winds move to south westerlies tomorrow and then settle down.
The strong winds and heavy rain were typical for spring but the winds were stronger than usual, Mr Mallinson said.
"It won't settle until late December and early January. Strong winds move southward as summer moves on and it causes variable weather."