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Relief efforts are underway in Fiji after Cyclone Yasa slammed into the Pacific Island nation with winds of 240 kilometres per hour.
Yasa made landfall on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island, on 17 December, leaving what Fiji’s Red Cross called a “devastating trail of destruction”. Early photos from parts of the island show flattened homes and damaged crops.
The government warns casualties may rise as damage reports emerge from remote islands. On Friday, it had recorded two deaths, including a three-month-old baby. Damages are expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yasa was the first Category 5 storm to strike Fiji since 2016’s catastrophic Cyclone Winston – April’s supercharged Cyclone Harold, which caused extensive damage in neighbouring Vanuatu, weakened before reaching parts of Fiji.
Cyclone Yasa: two die in Fiji as storm hits second-largest island
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EN IMAGES Des villages des Fidji rasés au passage du super cyclone Yasa
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Suva: A powerful cyclone pounded Fiji, killing two people, including a three-month-old baby, and leaving a trail of destruction across the Pacific Island nation, authorities said on Friday.
Cyclone Yasa, a top category-five storm, made landfall over Bua province on the northern island of Vanua Levu on Thursday evening, bringing torrential rain, widespread flooding and winds of up to 285 km per hour across the archipelago.
While it proved terrifying for those in its path, there was a sense of relief in other parts of the country that the devastation wasn’t as widespread as many had initially feared.
Scores of houses were destroyed, while power was cut to some areas and roads blocked by fallen trees and flash flooding, authorities said.
Fierce Cyclone Yasa strikes Fiji as one of the country s most powerful storms
Andrew Freedman, The Washington Post
Dec. 17, 2020
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Tropical Cyclone Yasa struck the low-lying Pacific island nation of Fiji on Thursday evening local time, as one of the strongest storms to hit there. With maximum sustained winds of between 150 and 160 mph, the storm made landfall on Vanua Levu, home to about 140,000, bringing potentially devastating winds, flooding rains and storm surge flooding.
In the early morning hours Friday, the storm began to pull away from the islands, and residents will begin to get a sense of the damage at daybreak.