Forty passengers injured as New Zealand storm hits cruise ship (Roundup)

Jul 31, 2008, 8:58 GMT

Wellington - A huge sub-tropical storm continued to batter parts of flood-stricken and wind-ravaged New Zealand on Thursday night after leaving more than 40 passengers on a cruise ship injured when it rolled in mountainous seas.

The injured were treated by doctors and nurses on board P&O's Pacific Sun which a spokesman said rolled by about 20 degrees when it hit 7-metre swells and 50 knot winds in the South Pacific, 600 kilometres north of Auckland, on Wednesday night.

The spokesman said the storm had delayed the ship, carrying 1,732 passengers and 671 crew on an 8-day Pacific cruise, and it was expected to reach Auckland on Friday, 24 hours behind schedule.

Maritime New Zealand and the Rescue Coordination Centre were said to be monitoring the ship's progress, but said it had not reported that it is in any trouble.

Meanwhile, the storm, which hit northern regions causing floods believed to have taken the lives of two people on Wednesday, moved down the country, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

About 160 people were evacuated from rising waters in the township of Amberley Beach, 50 kilometres north of Christchurch, and as the storm continued south, forecasters said heavy rain was likely to cause damage and flooding across southern New Zealand well into Friday.

There were widespread reports of landslides and floods throughout the country, with roads and railway lines blocked by landslides, fallen trees and power lines.

More than 300 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours at Kaikoura, on the east coast of the South Island, and up to 30 centimetres of snow was reported in high country further south.

Power was gradually restored to the town of Levin, 95 kilometres north of Wellington, where more than 25,000 households had spent the night without electricity after 130-kilometre-an-hour winds toppled hundreds of trees and brought down utility lines.

But officials said some rural areas could be without power for days.

A state of emergency was lifted in Marlborough but officials said civil defence operation centres continued to operate in parts of the North Island and throughout Canterbury in the south.