Sydney, Dec. 18, (dpa/GNA) – Two people were reported dead, many homes were destroyed and over 23,000 people were evacuated after powerful cyclone Yasa passed over Fiji Friday.
Director of Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office, Vasiti Soko, said two deaths were reported as the category 5 cyclone passed over the islands, Fiji radio reported Friday.
Cyclone Yasa was one of the strongest storms ever to hit Fiji with winds gusting to 345 kilometres per hour (km/h) and flooding in many parts of the country’s islands.
After the cyclone had passed over the main islands Friday afternoon it was downgraded to category 3 with winds gusting to 220 km/h.
It left a trail of destruction with many houses destroyed and crops flattened.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the storm was a symptom of a “climate emergency”.
“On this same day in 2012, Fiji was enduring Cyclone Evan.
Since then, we’ve been battered by 12 more cyclones — two of which (Winston and Yasa) are now jockeying for our hemisphere’s strongest-ever storm in history,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Meanwhile New Zealand said it would offer aid, in the form of undisclosed amounts of money and the use of a military seaplane, as well as a technical adviser to the disaster response.
“We are releasing emergency relief kits pre-positioned in Fiji in partnership with Rotary New Zealand, and are making funding available to the New Zealand High Commission to respond to needs on the ground as requested by Fiji,” Foreign Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta announced.
GNA