NZ reels from wild weather blast

WILD weather has uprooted trees, cut power and even trapped a person inside their house in New Zealand's North Island while snow has fallen in large areas of the South Island.
A FAST-MOVING squall on Saturday morning prompted about 160 call-outs to the Fire Service from Auckland and the Bay of Plenty - and about 20 of the calls were about damaged roofs, shift manager Scott Osmond told AAP.
Most of the rest concerned fallen powerlines and trees, although one person in Mt Wellington had to be rescued after being trapped in their house by a fallen tree, Mr Osmond said. Thousands lost power in Auckland, Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel Peninsula due to the severe weather, but most of the Auckland customers had electricity back on by the day, Vector spokeswoman Sandy Hodge said. More thunderstorms, gale force winds and small tornadoes are forecast for Auckland on Saturday night. The South Island didn't escape the wintry weather, with snow falling in Otago and Southland on Saturday morning and beginning to fall in low-lying parts of Canterbury and Marlborough.