Five people reported killed, power and communications cut, and remote villages feared to be heavily damaged as country begins cleaning up

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Five people are reported to have been killed and remote villages were feared to have sustained heavy damage after what was described as the strongest tropical cyclone in Fiji’s history.



Fijians, tourists and aid workers were beginning the clean-up on Sunday after category five Cyclone Winston battered the South Pacific nation with wind gusts as strong as 325km/h and waves up to 12m high.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trees blow in the heavy wind ahead of cyclone Winston’s landfall onSaturday in Suva, Fiji. Photograph: Unicef via Getty Images

George Dregaso, a shift leader at Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office, said on Sunday that two people on Ovalau Island died when the house they were sheltering in collapsed on them. Another man died on Koro Island and police were investigating reports of two more deaths on the main island of Viti Levu.

About 80% of the nation’s 900,000 people were without regular power, although a third of those were able to use generators. Telephone landlines were down but most mobile networks were working.

Dregaso said 483 people had evacuated from their homes and were staying in 32 emergency shelters.

Authorities were urging people to remain indoors as they cleared fallen trees and power lines. They said all schools would be closed for a week to allow time for the cleanup.

A nationwide curfew was extended through Sunday and the government declared a 30-day state of natural disaster, giving extra powers to police to arrest people without a warrant in the interest of public safety.

Australian Red Cross aid worker Susan Slattery said from Suva: “Things will become much clearer over the next 24 hours and our first priority is to make sure people are safe and have the short-term assistance they need.”

“At the moment we’re focused on removing fallen power lines and trees to make sure it’s safe for people to move around … then it’s moving into finding out whether we need shelter and clean water, and what food and hygiene items are required to keep people healthy,” Slattery said.



All flights in and out of Fiji remained cancelled on Sunday.



Authorities said that as well as the elderly man killed on Koro, there were fears for other people living on the island, north-east of Suva.



“Some villages have reported that all homes have been destroyed,” Jone Tuiipelehaki of the United Nations Development Programme tweeted late on Saturday. “Fifty homes have been reported destroyed in the Navaga village in Koro Island.”

Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, offered Fiji assistance, including an Australian defence force P-3 Orion to carry out aerial surveillance of the outer islands.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Scenes of Cyclone Winston’s destruction in Ba, Fiji. Photograph: Naziah Ali/EPA

About 1,300 Australians are registered as being in Fiji but that figure was likely to be far greater given up to 350,000 visited Fiji every year, Bishop said on Sunday.



Cyclone Winston began to make landfall on the main island of Vitu Levu after a national curfew took effect at 6pm local time on Saturday. It had earlier sunk boats and caused flash flooding on the nation’s outer islands, including Vanua Levu.

The country’s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, said on Saturday that the government was prepared to deal with a potential crisis.



“As a nation we are facing an ordeal of the most grievous kind,” he wrote. “We must stick together as a people and look after each other.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Damage from Cyclone Winston in the town of Ba on Fiji’s Viti Levu island. Photograph: STRINGER/Reuters

Save the Children Fiji’s chief executive, Iris Low-McKenzie, said: “We’re extremely concerned about the impact this will have on children, who are particularly vulnerable during emergencies.”

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Airlines operating in the region including Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Qantas and Fiji Airways all reported cancelled flights or altered timetables, with passengers told to consult their carrier for information.

Some airlines are set to resume flying in and out of Fiji. Virgin Australia, Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand said flights would resume on Monday.

With Reuters, the Associated Press and AAP