IN PICTURES: New Zealand blasted with 'one of the strongest winds ever'

It was a night of wild weather in the lower North Island of New Zealand on Sunday evening, with winds of around 246 km/h causing chaos and uprooting enormous trees.

Matthew Collett saw the wind pick up his trampoline and dump it in his neighbour's backyard in Paraparaumu.

"It flew over the neighbour's house and garage roof, smashed through a washing line, then impaled on a fence and took another window out in the process."

The national MetService said that last night's recording of 246km/h wind at Cape Turnagain would have been approaching the national record, believed to be 250k/h.

"I can say it was one of the strongest winds we've ever seen," a MetService forecaster said.

Strong winds lifted the roller door of a hangar at Wellington Airport.

A staff member of ExecuJet said quick-thinking crew then parked a transport vehicle in the doorway to secure it.

Emergency workers uncovered more than 1,500 bodies in the wreckage of Libya's eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could surpass 5,000 after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city.

The startling death and devastation wreaked by Mediterranean storm Daniel pointed to the storm's intensity, but also the vulnerability of a nation torn apart by chaos for more than a decade. The country is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas.

Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck. The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to the coastal city of some 89,000.

Footage showed dozens of bodies covered by blankets in the yard of one hospital. Another image showed a mass grave piled with bodies. More than 1,500 corpses were collected, and half of them had been buried as of Tuesday evening, the health minister for eastern Libya said.

At least one official put the death toll at more than 5,000. The state-run news agency quoted Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesman for the east Libya interior ministry, as saying that more than 5,300 people had died in Derna alone. Derna's ambulance authority said earlier Tuesday that 2,300 had died.

But the toll is likely to be higher, said Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He told a U.N. briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia that at least 10,000 people were still missing. He said later Tuesday that more than 40,000 people have been displaced.

The situation in Libya is "as devastating as the situation in Morocco," Ramadan said, referring to the deadly earthquake that hit near the city of Marrakesh on Friday night.

The destruction came to Derna and other parts of eastern Libya on Sunday night. As the storm pounded the coast, Derna residents said they heard loud explosions and realized that dams outside the city had collapsed. Flash floods were unleashed down Wadi Derna, a river running from the mountains through the city and into the sea.

The wall of water "erased everything in its way," said one resident, Ahmed Abdalla.

Videos posted online by residents showed large swaths of mud and wreckage where the raging waters had swept away neighborhoods on both banks of the river. Multi-story apartment buildings that once were well back from the river had facades ripped away and concrete floors collapsed. Cars lifted by the flood were left dumped on top of each other.

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows Derna, Libya, on Sept. 2, 2023, before flooding.

This photo shows Derna after the flooding.

Trading on the stock exchange has halted, schools have closed, and residents have been urged to stay inside after Hong Kong was hit with its heaviest rain in at least 139 years.

The rain has triggered widespread flooding in parts of the city.

The weather bureau issued the highest "black" rainstorm warning and urged people to stay indoors and find shelter, warning the rain could bring flash floods, and that residents near rivers should consider evacuating.

Authorities had to rescue some drivers stuck in partially submerged vehicles; some parking lots were so flooded car roofs were only just visible above the water.

Residents have been told to watch out for their surroundings. Here - rocks and soil from a landslide block a road.

The government has announced all schools would also be suspended, and urged businesses to allow non-essential employees to stay in safe places instead of going to the workplace

Floodwater has damaged a shopping mall in the city.