from w
It's easy for reporters to tell about the fallen trees, power-lines, lack of clean water in the taps, etc. in Suva, but the stories from remote areas barely get told. People with really flimsy houses in the distant villages, with subsistence food gardens blown away, sugar cane in puddles of water as the floods recede, the kids who can't go to school.
Anyway the clean-up has started but the major infrastructure will be an on-going financial nightmare. I heard that a $5 million bridge has all gone on the Kings Road and recently 'repaired' roads at Seaqaqa in Vanua Levu have fallen away again! And it seems that the wind and water damage this time was very, very widespread so impacts upon the larger and smaller islands.
Our son emailed yesterday (using a generator as all the electricity was down) saying the family are all safe, so that's what really counts. I say; Shelter your family, and look out for your neighbour. That's the only motto needed in life. In the time of the clean-up it's an opportunity for neighbour to help neighbour, and that's what the 'real' Fiji is about. Cut out the talk-fests about charters and just get on with real action.
Debris from Cyclone Gene evident in Central Division
29 Jan 2008 04:58:03 (from Fiji Times)
Scenes of up-rooted trees and damaged power lines were evident in the capital and surrounding areas, as daylight broke. But there have been no reports of major damage to infrastructure in Suva and Nasinu. In Nausori, the Rewa River was higher than its normal levels this afternoon, blocking access to certain roads.
The car park in the basement of the Civic Towers building became water logged last night due to blocked drainage trapping about 6 vehicles. The water could not be pumped out as there was no electricity. In other parts of Suva, workers were busy clearing fallen trees. It was the same along the Queen Elizabeth Drive in Nasese but none of the three fallen trees blocked the main road.
The strong winds also uprooted trees at the Suva Grammar School in Flagstaff near Marist Brothers and near the Nasese Police Post. In Laucala Bay, signage and bill-boards outside the Vodafone Arena also succumbed to the elements... A government quarters also had a close call with a large tree missing the house by mere inches.
A similar situation at a home in Nasinu near Pilling Road when a tree fell on what used to be a shed for church services, narrowly missing the home itself. This is the Toga Road, the only means of access for three villages situated next to the Rewa River.
As the Rewa River swelled to its banks, flood waters spilled onto the road, blocking of all access and leaving about 250 people of Moana village stranded. Some resorted to using make-shift bilibilis...before proper outboards could be sourced.
Showing posts with label cyclone Gene. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyclone Gene. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Telling it like it is - from Taveuni
from w
A Taveuni writer, Alohabula1, writes it like it is experiencing today's huge storm/cyclone in Taveuni which she felt hours and hours before Fiji's weather bureau even alerted people. Her post is on Fijiboardexiles.
Here is her personal story:
It is amazing to me, I finally e-mailed one of the credible weather sites and said...You need to update your site we are in the midst of a Cat 1 Cyclone. A couple of hours later I guess they finally realized I wasn't a nut, looked on the Satelitte Map and named the darn thing. My Fijian gang heard it on the radio and with their accent I thought they said it was Deena but I guess they named it Gene
From what I can gather from the past experience of 24 hours is that it began as a normal but large tropical storm and then formed into a cyclone over the back side of Taveuni, without an eye. I was watching the Coconut trees etc and they were all leaning heavily to the west, after a few hours I heard the direction of the rumble change and then it came from the Northwest, then all the trees started twirling.
I thought well..this should get interesting, maybe we will greet the eye soon and we can run out and do some things. But it never let up instead the wind shifted and came in from the North and as it moved down the chain. I know we are still experiencing the backside of it at 9:35 in the evening.. We are 24 hours into, the rains are torrential, the winds are still past a gale force in the North and poor Labasa and low lying areas must surely be underwater by now. .
The waves out front are huge, depending if you measure from the back probably 6-8 ft on average, any boats still surviving on moorings will soon be kissed goodbye. But you can't hear the waves over the wind and the rain. There are breakers in places out there I have never seen more than a ripple before, as in way beyond the reef.
This is the part that I don't get, you read the weather report and it always seems to minimize it. I use to be a wind surfer, I do know wind and if it was blowing at 50mph, (80kmh) that was time to throw the rig in the truck and have a great day rooster tailing out there.. I know the gusts which are almost as freguent as a heartbeat were past 100 mph maybe up to 130, there were times today it was bordering a Cat 2. That is not my imagination or me trying to dramatic. I have lived in places where 70mph winds were not out of the norm and nothing to worry about and I have been in worse cyclones in Fiji, but the last two big ones we have had zero warning.
So for the gang on Viti Levu, it has been 24 hours here and counting, so be prepared for a long haul and sustained stress on everything. Sorry I can't be more encouraging, but better to be prepared. The worst is over for the North except for the torrential rain and gale force winds.
A Taveuni writer, Alohabula1, writes it like it is experiencing today's huge storm/cyclone in Taveuni which she felt hours and hours before Fiji's weather bureau even alerted people. Her post is on Fijiboardexiles.
Here is her personal story:
It is amazing to me, I finally e-mailed one of the credible weather sites and said...You need to update your site we are in the midst of a Cat 1 Cyclone. A couple of hours later I guess they finally realized I wasn't a nut, looked on the Satelitte Map and named the darn thing. My Fijian gang heard it on the radio and with their accent I thought they said it was Deena but I guess they named it Gene
From what I can gather from the past experience of 24 hours is that it began as a normal but large tropical storm and then formed into a cyclone over the back side of Taveuni, without an eye. I was watching the Coconut trees etc and they were all leaning heavily to the west, after a few hours I heard the direction of the rumble change and then it came from the Northwest, then all the trees started twirling.
I thought well..this should get interesting, maybe we will greet the eye soon and we can run out and do some things. But it never let up instead the wind shifted and came in from the North and as it moved down the chain. I know we are still experiencing the backside of it at 9:35 in the evening.. We are 24 hours into, the rains are torrential, the winds are still past a gale force in the North and poor Labasa and low lying areas must surely be underwater by now. .
The waves out front are huge, depending if you measure from the back probably 6-8 ft on average, any boats still surviving on moorings will soon be kissed goodbye. But you can't hear the waves over the wind and the rain. There are breakers in places out there I have never seen more than a ripple before, as in way beyond the reef.
This is the part that I don't get, you read the weather report and it always seems to minimize it. I use to be a wind surfer, I do know wind and if it was blowing at 50mph, (80kmh) that was time to throw the rig in the truck and have a great day rooster tailing out there.. I know the gusts which are almost as freguent as a heartbeat were past 100 mph maybe up to 130, there were times today it was bordering a Cat 2. That is not my imagination or me trying to dramatic. I have lived in places where 70mph winds were not out of the norm and nothing to worry about and I have been in worse cyclones in Fiji, but the last two big ones we have had zero warning.
So for the gang on Viti Levu, it has been 24 hours here and counting, so be prepared for a long haul and sustained stress on everything. Sorry I can't be more encouraging, but better to be prepared. The worst is over for the North except for the torrential rain and gale force winds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
