Cyclone Yasa leaves extensive damage in Fiji

Hurricane-force winds and massive downpour have damaged numbers of houses and flattened crops in Fiji’s northern areas, aid agencies said on Friday; however early estimates imply only minimal deaths in the country.

Cyclone Yasa, a highest category five storm, made landfall over Bua region on the northern island of Vanua Levu on Thursday evening, causing torrential rainfall, extensive flooding and gusts of up to 285 km per hour (177 miles) throughout the archipelago.

Fiji on Thursday announced a state of natural catastrophe, directed its complete population of nearly 1 million people to endeavour shelter and imposed a nightly curfew.

The alarm was widely regarded, and as a result, humanitarian groups said it resembled the original effect of Cyclone Yasa was more limited than formerly worried, though still extensive.

“Villages in Vanua Levu have suffered destruction on a lot of houses. The gusts have crushed many population buildings and crops have been smashed,” Fiji Red Cross Society Director-General Ilisapeci Rokotunidau told media through a phone call to a wire from Suva, the country’s capital.

“So far, there is just one death that has been proclaimed.”

Images shared on social media revealed roads blocked by descents, floodwaters and collapsed trees. All roads mainly in Rakiraki, a district on the main island with about 30,000 residents, were drowned, Fiji’s Road Authority announced.

Authorities continue to be concerned about massive thunderstorms bought by Cyclone Yasa, though the storm has decreased in strength and is now just a category two as it moves south across the island series.

Still, the adverse weather has hindered attempts by support groups to transmit assistance, with streams of more than 3 metres (10 ft) stopping boats leaving Suva.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced with difficult conditions, the country’s residents must remain careful.

“#TeamFiji, we are not out of the woods yet, keep safe and adhere to weather warnings!!” Bainimarama tweeted on Friday.