KILLER STORM HITS FIJI

Nemia Adrole is this morning hoping Cyclone Tomas has passed over Fiji and he will be able to contact his sister.
"I am very worried because the news of this cyclone is very bad."
Sunday night about 9pm was the last time he talked to his sister but they couldn't talk for long, he said.
His sister, a school teacher in a small town on the western coast of Fiji, told him everyone in the town was preparing for the worst and were evacuating as fast as they could.
Mr Adrole said when he was growing up in Fiji, cyclones were just part of life.
"We had cyclones every year. It was just what happened and we were very used to it. But this seemes very different. My sister was worried."
Mr Adrole is one of 13 Fijian rugby players living and working in Wanganui.
"We all have family in Fiji. But there was no hope of reaching anyone now until it's over," he said.
A cyclone with winds up to 200km/h was very worrying, he said.
"I am pleased everyone is going to shelters to try and be safe. It sounds so bad. I would like to be able to talk to them."
Cyclone Tomas packed winds of up to 205km/h at its centre, with gusts of up to 280km/h, acting director of Fiji's Disaster Management Office, Pajiliai Dobui said. The Category 4 storm was the same strength as Fiji's devastating Hurricane Bebe in 1972, which caused widespread damage and claimed 180 lives.
The Government last night urged New Zealanders in Fiji to register with the High Commission in Suva as the devastating cyclone hit the islands.
Prime Minister John Key said about 450 were registered, but there were likely to be others who had not.
The cyclone has already claimed its first victim -- a woman swept out to sea on Friday.
Mr Key said a tropical cyclone warning was in place for the entire Fiji island group. Nadi Airport was open, but all international flights, including some by Air New Zealand, were delayed or cancelled
The full fury of the storm was expected at about midnight last night, he said.
The other storm hitting the Pacific, Cyclone Ului, had intensified to a category five storm and there had been reports of damage and flooding in the Solomon Islands region.
"Despite its intensity, latest reports say it has slightly weakened in the last six to 12 hours," he said.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade wascontinuing to monitor both cyclones and their impact.
"We will be assessing our response based on what develops and that assessment will be made in conjunction with our partners in the Pacific."
Tomas battered the Lau and Lomaiviti island groups off Fiji's northern coast yesterday, causing flooding and pounding seas.
Last night the storm was battering Fiji's northern island of Vanua Levu, with more than 5000 people evacuated from their homes.
Police said they were regarding the death of a 31-year-old woman swept out to sea on Friday as the first victim of Cyclone Tomas.
The woman and her relatives were swept out at Namilamila Bay in Vanua Levu after a warning to stay away from the sea was issued.
The northern commissioner for the national disaster office, Inia Seruiratu, who is operating the disaster centre in one of the worst affected parts of Vanua Levu, said reports of damage had been coming in.
He told Radio New Zealand reports included damage to houses particularly in the remote settlements and villages in the outer islands, with trees being uprooted and low-lying areas affected by sea water.
A nationwide curfew was lifted yesterday to allow people to buy emergency supplies but took effect again overnight.
About 6.30pm last night, the cyclone was about 375km northeast of the capital, Suva, and was expected to intensify over the next 24 hours.
The acting director of Fiji's Disaster Management Office, Pajiliai Dobui, told AAP more than 5000 people had been evacuated from their homes in Vanua Levu and were taking shelter in disaster centres.
"Our worry is how devastating the cyclone will be," he told Fiji's local radio network, adding it may be the most destructive the nation has seen in a while.
Mr Boterhoven said Cyclone Tomas was expected to brush the eastern part of Vanua Levu and cause "a lot of flooding even in central parts of that island".
It will then head south through the Lau group of island and "cause a bit of havoc down there".