The damage after Cyclone Pam hit Tuvalu. Photo / Hadley Henderson
The damage after Cyclone Pam hit Tuvalu. Photo / Hadley Henderson
A group of Kiwi power workers from a Tauranga firm are stranded on the small Pacific island of Tuvalu after the boat that was due to pick them up this weekend was cancelled because of Super Cyclone Pam.
The team from Tauranga-based Powersmart are in Tuvalu on a solar project,and were due to move onto a different region this weekend - but the worst weather in 24 years had hampered their plans.
In a blog post, the team said they had been working six and a half day weeks for four weeks in order to finish in time for a scheduled ferry service, which would pick them up from Vaitupu on Saturday.
They were due to move on to Nanumaga, another district of Tuvalu. However, it was cancelled following "horizontal" rain and strong winds.
"Locals report that they've not seen weather like this since the storm of 1991," the blog's author Heather Logie said.
"Waves have been pushing higher all morning [Wednesday] sweeping rubbish up onto the streets. Two coconut trees have given way and come crashing down.
"There is no conceivable way that a little barge with a 40hp engine would make it through that harbour entrance unscathed. On a day like today, no ships will even be allowed to fix to Funafuti wharf; they are bobbing like corks in the middle of the lagoon."
Later on Wednesday afternoon the group went for a walk to inspect the damage, and reported seeing "pig pens washed away" and reinforcements being added to outdoor facilities.
"I've never seen waves like this," Ms Logie said. "My sandy, coconut tree covered, 2m high atoll, perched in the middle of this enormous ocean, feels very precarious right now."The storm was also affecting power and communications," she said.
"And to top it all off, we are on diesel rations again. We are down to our last 235L of fuel and the generator will only come on for 3 hours tonight and then another 3 hours tomorrow morning."
"With it, our communications with the rest of the world, as the satellite uplink relies on the generator and reasonably clear skies."
