GMS-5 satellite image courtesy of Fiji Meteorological Service.
Weather officials in Fiji said the storm was heading southeast across far-flung islands on the outer rim of the Pacific kingdom of Tonga after battering Vanua Levu and surrounding islands with winds of 185 kph (115 mph).Communications with Vanua Levu, where a quarter of Fiji's 800,000 people live, and surrounding atolls, were cut.Police earlier said Savusavu on Vanua Levu's south coast suffered extensive damage and flooding, while about 500 villagers on the island of Nayau in the Northern Lau Group to the southeast fled to shelter in hillside caves from a massive storm surge.Fiji's meteorology service reported that Ami had increased in strength and was packing average winds of 150 kph (93 mph), with gusts of up to 200 kph (124 mph), as it moved through the scattered Lau group of islands.Its centre at that time was about 100 km (62 miles) south of the southern Lau island of Kabara and was moving south at 40 kph (25 mph).Emergency officials managed to restore some communications with Labasa and the other main island town of Savusavu later on Tuesday but efforts were being hampered by extensive flooding.
A view of homes damaged by hurricane Olga in 2007 at the zone of San Cristobal December 18, 2009. Two of the 10 countries most affected by climate change between 1990 ...
