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A tornado tore through New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring 14 as cars and trees were sent flying through the air and roofs ripped off buildings.

The tornado struck the northern suburb of Albany in mid-afternoon, with damage centered on a shopping mall, before it moved south, leaving a five-kilometer trail of destruction.

Civil defense officials put the death toll at one, changed from an earlier report of two, with 14 injured.

"It's been a very powerful and quite devastating tornado that's caused a significant amount of damage in a very localized area," Prime Minister John Key said, adding that the government told authorities it would do all it could to help.

Tornadoes swept across the southern United States last week, killing more than 350 people and causing as much as $5 billion in damages. New Zealand experiences about 20 tornadoes a year, but most are relatively small and fatalities are rare.

The worst tornado in New Zealand struck the city of Hamilton in 1948, killing three people, injuring 80 and destroying nearly 200 buildings. In 2004, a tornado struck a small town in the coastal Taranaki region on the North Island, killing two people.

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（中国日报网英语点津 Julie 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.