Cyclone Winston sweeps through Fiji Island

The Pacific nation of Fiji is now counting its losses after a powerful cyclone tore through the islands killing one, destroying hundreds of homes, shredding crops while also wounding and displacing many.

A state of disaster has been declared as residents are now cleaning and assessing the damage caused by one of the most powerful cyclones with wind speeds estimated at up to 285km/h to have swept through the Pacific nation.

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Reports say an elderly man in the village of Nabasovi on Koro Island was killed when the roof of the house he was in collapsed. Another person on the west of Viti Levu was hospitalised after being hit by flying debris.

Many, however, fear that casualty numbers will increase once reports come in from “squatter areas” unlikely to have withstood the category 5 storm.
Alice Clements from UNICEF Pacific was in the capital Suva when the cyclone hit.

“We certainly felt the impact of…Winston in Suva with destructive, howling winds and the sound of rivets lifting from roofs a constant throughout the night,” she said.

“It is likely that smaller villages across Fiji will have suffered the most, given their infrastructures would be too weak to withstand the power of a category 5 cyclone.”

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