South Pacific island nation’s capital city, Port Vila, goes into lockdown as it awaits arrival of category-five storm bringing 280km/h winds

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The capital of Vanuatu went into lockdown as a “once-in-a-lifetime” storm bore down on the South Pacific island nation, threatening up to a quarter of a million people in its path.

Tropical cyclone Pam, a category five storm with predicted wind gusts of more than 280km/h at its core, was on track to hit the capital, Port Vila, at about 11pm Friday night local time (midday GMT).

Evacuations across the country followed warnings of a life-threatening weather event bringing storm surges, torrential rain, flash flooding and landslides.

The United Nations agency Unicef, which along with aid agencies was on the ground with personnel and emergency supplies, warned about 260,000 people were in the potential disaster zone.

Port Vila was in lockdown by 7pm local time, with sources in the area describing “panic” setting in among those who filled 12 evacuation centres, while hotels crammed with guests booked in to shelter for the night ordered them into underground bunkers.

Care Vanuatu’s program manager Charlie Damon, speaking just as she was being ushered into the bunker of her hotel, said one of her colleagues alone helped 195 people into evacuation centres on Friday, including three people with disabilities.



“He did say there was a bit of panic in the centre. They’re nervous, particularly with the noise because there’s more rubbish flying around [in Port Vila]. On the other islands it’s tree branches and coconuts.

“But he’s ensured they have water, has mobilised youth to cook for them and cut down surrounding trees and he’s ensured that of the two toilets available that one is designated for women, one for men.

“We’re always concerned for the protection of women and children once they’re in those kind of centres so very happy with that.”

Tropical cyclone Nathan, off Australia’s Queensland coast, and tropical cyclone Pam, near Vanuatu. Image: Australian Bureau of Meteorology/Japan Meteorological Agency

Unicef’s Pacific spokeswoman, Alice Clements, told TVNZ that Pam could create large storm surges, similar to some seen in the past in the Philippines which “behave pretty much like a tsunami”.



The Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office announced a red alert in the major northern provinces of Torba, Sanma, Penama and Malampa, urging residents to seek immediate shelter.



Some of those areas could face gales of up to 160km/h ahead of the superstorm’s predicted arrival, Vanuatu Meteorological Services warned.



Vanuatu Meteorological Service’s acting director, David Gibson, told the Guardian that Pam would be the most powerful storm ever to bear down on Vanuatu.



“As far as I can remember, this is the first [category five] cyclone to come very close to Vanuatu,” he said. “This is obviously a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of us.”

Gibson said Uma, the last major tropical cyclone to hit Vanuatu in 1987 which left a reported 48 dead and 5,000 homeless, was a category four at its strongest.



Although Pam would not make landfall, its destructive winds and resulting storm surges would peak on Vanuatu’s northern and eastern islands by 8pm on Friday, he said.

World Vision Vanuatu spokeswoman Chloe Morrison said there had been a callout from early on Friday for people with vehicles to help evacuate the most vulnerable from regional villages, where traditional housing that offered little if any protection against cyclonic winds was the norm.

“One of my colleagues saw buses going through communities and just picking up people in them to get them to safety,” she said.

Morrison said the role of local disaster committees in remote villages that would become “very difficult to reach” in Pam’s wake would be critical.

Speaking from Port Vila shortly before the expected impact of Pam, Morrison said supermarkets and shops that were full as people stocked up on supplies on Thursday night were virtually empty on Friday.

Morrison said that was a measure of the extent of preparation, with widespread warnings having been broadcast all week.

“At the start of the week it was quite calm … but there is an increasing level of anxiety,” she said.

“I was in the supermarkets last night and it was chaos. People were stocking up on essential things: water, rice, tuna, candles, matches.

“Today they’re a different story. Deserted streets, very few people around. Everyone’s bunkered down now.

“We do have phone connections and power however we would expect that to be down soon.”





The chairman of Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Committee, Jotham Napat, earlier told the ABC authorities were identifying potential evacuation centres nationwide.



Everyone from civil servants to street vendors had been sent home to bunker down.



“We are requesting our police officers to move into different communities to let them know they need to be evacuated to certain areas; we’ll be using mostly the churches and the public buildings,” Napat said.



Care Vanuatu’s Damon, said traditional housing would be destroyed by the rare storm and widespread deaths were inevitable unless people made it to emergency shelters.

“It’s definitely high anxiety here but fortunately this cyclone has given us the longest lead time [of] any cyclone ever [to prepare],” she said.



“It has certainly given us the opportunity to be more prepared than previously. [But] the traditional housing here will not stand up to a category four or five; it’s thatched roofs, straw huts, really flimsy timber.

“They will definitely blow down and there will be significant loss of life. That’s why the government is urging everyone to go to their designated evacuation centres, schools, churches and so on, because they’re concrete buildings.”



Damon said Care was particularly concerned about the vulnerability of those in Tafea province in the south-east because of the basic level of housing.



Aside from the destructive winds and storm surges in coastal areas, Damon said the impact of torrential rain on the topography of the highly mountainous islands made landslides a particular risk.



“In the past we’ve seen houses crushed by mud, and there’s also the risk of contaminated water when water supplies are scarce,” she said.



Care had already bought basic supplies, including soaps, towels and other hygienic supplies, to distribute in the storm’s wake.

Damaging winds from the storm were also expected to affect New Zealand’s North Island, including the Bay of Plenty and parts of Hawkes Bay.

The Chatham Islands were also likely to be exposed

In Fiji the education minister ordered schools to close although it was not thought the cyclone would heavily affect his country.

Vanuatu authorities made a priority the evacuation of the most vulnerable people – the elderly, the ill and those with disabilities – in regional villages.

They were taken to refuge in dozens of safe buildings and evacuations centres in six provinces, including the 12 centres around Port Vila.

Vanuatu’s weather bureau warned of “very destructive hurricane force” winds of up to 230km/h hitting the provinces of Malampa, Shefa and Tafea on Friday afternoon.

Red Cross staff reported houses severely damaged and food gardens wiped out in Malampa and Penama.

The southern province of Tanna, home to about 30,000 people, was directly in the forecast path of Pam, with the core expected to pass over or near the island around 1am on Saturday.



In Solomon Islands, there were reports of landslides and damage to houses in Temotu, Makira and Malaita, with bridges washed away in the latter.

Storm surges caused by Pam inundated low-lying coastal villages as far away as Kiribati, more than 4,000km from Vanuatu.

Residents in Tuvalu, about 1,500km from Vanuatu were seen in shin-high water, evacuating animals and freezers loaded with food.

Just this week, Port Vila was declared the world’s most vulnerable city to natural disasters in a study by a British analytics company, Verisk Maplecroft.

It was considered the most exposed of more than 1,300 cities to the combined risks of cyclones, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides and fires.