OWEN POLAND AUCKLAND "Gita brought wind gusts of up to 150 kilometers an hour and in some places and dumped up to four months' of rain in a single day. Not surprisingly, the strong winds have brought down power lines and knocked out electricity to thousands of people, buildings have been damaged and flooded rivers and coastlines have created a huge amount of debris to clean up. Fortunately there are no reports so far of anyone being injured or killed, unlike Tonga where two people died. The authorities were taking no chances when Cyclone Gita made landfall late yesterday. A state of emergency was declared in seven New Zealand provinces in the lower North Island and upper South Island and many schools and airports were closed as a precaution. There were some evacuations last night as flood waters rose, but the biggest impact has been the disruption to travel. Air New Zealand cancelled flights into the capital city of Wellington yesterday and many roads have been washed out which in one case has left 6,000 people in a rural community isolated for several days. Around 100 tourists were also trapped on the West Coast of the south island and 42 Chinese tourists had to spend last night sleeping in their buses.

Experts say the reason why Cyclone Gita has gone on for so long - and travelled so far - is because ocean temperatures have been warmer than usual this summer and that's provided fuel for it to pack such a big punch.

However the latest weather reports indicate that Cyclone Gita has pretty much burnt herself out - so the worst is now over."