A tornado has ripped across part of New Zealand's largest city, overturning cars and sending debris slicing through the air. Civil defence officials put the death toll at two, with at least 14 injured. The swirling dark grey column of air and cloud cut a three-mile (5km) path across the Auckland suburb of Albany at mid-afternoon on Tuesday, tearing off roofs, flattening trees and tossing vehicles around, according to police and residents. "There were kids in a car which turned upside down and they had to get help," said Hamish Blair, whose golf supplies store was in the hardest-hit area. "There's probably six or seven seriously damaged cars, and I saw cars flying off the ground about 30 metres [100ft] in the air." "We've got our fingers crossed that injuries are limited and that there are no further fatalities," Auckland's mayor, Len Brown, told Radio New Zealand. The tornado first touched down in Albany and then passed through neighbouring Birkenhead. Most of the serious damage was in Albany, where a shopping mall, a large hardware store and a supermarket were hit. Radio New Zealand reported that the roof of the Mega Centre mall in Albany collapsed.