Houses smashed, trees uprooted on Fijian island - report

A roofless house in Vanua Levu. Photo / Mack Khan

Silence from a tiny Fijian island, thought to be amongst the worst-hit by Cyclone Tomas, has been broken.

A Fijian radio station, FBC News, got what may be the first call out of Cikobia after Cyclone Tomas hit the small island directly, cutting off communications to its 100 residents.

The station said the man had called them rather than phoning emergency management.

"The villager described how Hurricane Tomas hovered angrily over the island for four days, throwing up sand, scattering debris, uprooting trees and smashing houses on the island," FBC reported.

"The man says the extent of the damage on the island was so huge and that it will take them two days to clean their way to the only school near the village."

The man had not had time to give his name, FBC News said.

Damage 'overwhelming'

Fiji sent naval patrol boats laden with supplies and support staff sailing for the northern islands that bore the full brunt of the storm, while Australian and New Zealand air force planes began airlifting emergency supplies to the island group.

Only one death has been reported, but the full extent of the damage has yet to be determined because communications to the hardest hit areas were cut off for days.

"It is evident that wherever (Cyclone) Tomas has struck, the damage has been overwhelming," Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said today as the first reports began to roll in.

Fiji Red Cross disaster co-ordinator Vuli Gauna said staff had been deployed to damaged areas with essential hygiene products in the hope of preventing a typhoid outbreak.

Crowding in unhygienic rooms caused the biggest risk for typhoid, and the larger evacuation centres in towns and the smaller shelters in less populated areas would be checked for the disease, Mr Gauna said.

A typhoid outbreak had hit Fiji two weeks before the cyclone struck, and the fear was that it would resurface, he said.

With power out, water supplies had been compromised during the storm.

But otherwise it did not seem the recovery would be as difficult as expected, Mr Gauna said.

Many houses had been damaged but few were flooded, which would make the clean up much easier, he said.

"There's sunshine here in Suva and everywhere else in Fiji so it will be a huge psychological advantage for people to get back to their houses and start to rebuild."

Typhoid fears

The update from Cikobia came as checks began in Fiji's cyclone evacuation centres for signs of typhoid, after more than 18,000 people crammed into the shelters during Cyclone Tomas.

The raging category four storm blasted Fiji since the weekend, forcing the government to impose a curfew as 200km/h winds tore roofs and trees and knocked out power and communications.

Curfews necessary - Bainimarama

Bainimarama said in a statement that Tomas's unpredictable and destructive path had made necessary stringent curfews across the country.

"It is evident that wherever Tomas has struck, the damage has been overwhelming. However, the full impact of Tomas in the Northern region, the Lomaiviti and Lau Groups is yet to be determined," Mr Bainimarama said.

"All we can say at this stage is that the effect of Tomas in these parts of Fiji was extensive and damaging."

A state of emergency, declared yesterday, continues.

Even before damage assessment began, one person had been confirmed killed and Fiji's National Emergency Operations Centre operations officer Anthony Blake said 73 houses were known to be damaged.

Reports of more deaths

There have been unconfirmed reports of more deaths.

About 17,000 people spent the night in 240 evacuation centres around the country, Mr Blake said.

A New Zealand Air Force plane has been flown in to help Fiji recover from the damage.

A RNZAF Hercules left New Zealand at 6am with relief supplies and personnel who would undertake reconnaissance work and damage assessment, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully told Radio New Zealand.

The plane may be in Fiji for several days and New Zealand would accept ongoing tasks if Fiji requested it, Mr McCully said.

An Orion was also on standby to provide further reconnaissance if required.

The cyclone has been downgraded from the second-highest classification, category four, to category three this morning, but Fiji's southern Lau islands are still being warned of possible coastal flooding, thunderstorms, damaging swells, rough seas and gusts of up to nearly 100km/h.

A gale warning is in force for Ono-i-Lau, Vatoa and nearby islands, but warnings for the rest of Fiji have been cancelled.

Police Commissioner Commodore Esala Teleni said curfews had been lifted at 4am as civil servants head back to work today.

Schools are reopening in Fiji's western districts.

Fiji Red Cross disaster co-ordinator Vuli Gauna said the first step in recovery efforts was sending planes to look at the extent of damage over the northern parts of the country hit hardest by Tomas.

Power, communications and houses have been taken out by the cyclone's winds, and uprooted trees have blocked roads to damaged areas.

"I think some lost their lives but it is just a few, but what we have been hearing from some of the islands is the devastation and the wind and the storm surges were too much," Fiji National Disaster Management Office director Pajiliai Dobui said yesterday.

But National Disaster Management Office director Pajiliai Dobui said the numbers of dead and injured could not be confirmed by police until communications were restored with islands in the north and east.

Hundreds of New Zealanders were known to be in Fiji but the Foreign Affairs Ministry said there had been no reports of any casualties.

NZers trapped

At least five New Zealand tourists were trapped on the northeastern island of Qamea without phones and power, The Dominion Post reported.

Disaster management team spokesman Laisania Tui told Radio New Zealand clearing up 34 schools used as evacuation centres was a priority, as well as clearing debris, providing clean water and avoiding an outbreak of disease, such as typhoid.

- With NZHERALD STAFF