The storm destroyed many other homes on the island, which is Fiji s second largest.
The eye of the storm moved through Vanua Levu from about 6 p.m. local time on Thursday. It missed the capital city Suva and the major tourist hub of Nadi on Fiji s largest island, Viti Levu. It s a nightmare, Labasa resident Banuve Lasaqa Lusi told Radio New Zealand. The thunderous sound of the wind and what is flying around is what s frightening.
A fallen electric pole is seen in in Savusavu, Fiji, on Friday.(Fiji Roads Authority via Reuters)
She said many people s houses had been flattened, with some sheltering under their beds or escaping with just the clothes on their backs.
Super cyclone levels Fiji villages
865
villages as it tore through Fiji, aid agencies said Friday, with one person
reported dead as rescue workers raced to the worst-hit communities in
isolated areas of Pacific island nation.
Yasa made landfall late Thursday as a top-of-the-scale Category Five
cyclone, lashing Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu, with wind gusts of
up to 345 kilometres an hour (210 miles an hour).
The storm triggered floods, landslides and blackouts before moving out to
sea early Friday, where it rapidly weakened to a Category Three system.
Zalim Hussein of Savusavu, a small town of a few thousand people on Vanua
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Super cyclone Yasa levels Fiji villages
The human cost of Yasa could have been worse had it not landed in the sparsely populated Bau province.
By Leon Lord
December 18, 2020 03:04 GMT
Super cyclone Yasa flattened entire villages as it tore through Fiji, aid agencies said Friday, with one person reported dead as rescue workers raced to the worst-hit communities in isolated areas of Pacific island nation.
Yasa made landfall late Thursday as a top-of-the-scale Category Five cyclone, lashing Fiji s second-largest island, Vanua Levu, with wind gusts of up to 345 kilometres an hour (210 miles an hour).
The storm triggered floods, landslides and blackouts before moving out to sea early Friday, where it rapidly weakened to a Category Three system.
December 18, 2020 3:45 pm
NZ’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. [Source: Google]
New Zealand is offering Fiji an initial assistance package as it assesses the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Yasa.
NZ’s Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta announced that an aircraft, RNZAF P-3 Orion will be sent to assess the damage, including in remote areas.
The release of emergency relief kits pre-positioned in Fiji in partnership with Rotary New Zealand are making funding available to the New Zealand High Commission to respond to needs on the ground as requested by Fiji.
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Mahuta says New Zealand is also funding a technical adviser to the Fiji National Disaster Management Office.