Latest MetService National Forecast.
In a rare event, for a brief time three tropical cyclones were active at the same time to the north of New Zealand, but there’s no sign of any rain from the storms making its way to this country in the next week. In the early hours of Monday, Tropical Cyclone Ana was a category 3 strength event near Fiji, Tropical Cyclone Bina was a category 1 storm also in the general area of Fiji, and Tropical Cyclone Lucas was at category 2 strength further west towards Australia. Ana brought heavy flooding to parts of Fiji during the weekend.
Energy Fiji Limited CEO Hasmukh Patel. Picture: FILE
Tropical Cyclone Ana had disrupted power supply on all four major islands and Energy Fiji Ltd CEO Hasmukh Patel said damage assessment was still being conducted.
He said the exercise would take days.
“Once we assess the damage we will be in a better position to say how long it’s going to take to restore and how much it will cost EFL to restore the power network, in order to supply all our customers with electricity,” said Mr Patel.
He also said EFL had a tentative plan on how power supply would be restored in each area. EFL crews, he said, had just returned last Friday from power restoration works on Vanua Levu.
Tropical Cyclone Lucas
Photo: Fiji Meteorological Service
Cyclone Lucas is a category 2 system moving to the southwest of Vanuatu towards New Caledonia s Loyalty Islands.
Cyclone Ana crossed Fiji s main islands yesterday and is tracking southeast away from land to the south of Tonga.
Advisories have been issued for Vanuatu and New Caledonia, where winds are expected to strengthen during the day.
Lucas is forecast to bring heavy rain and high seas, with residents advised to prepare for the storm to hit.
Tropical Cyclone Ana
Photo: Fiji Meteorological Service Tags:
We will try to bring you more updates from the north when the weather situation eases.
The Fiji Times reports that Tropical Cyclone Ana had intensified into a category 2 system overnight with sustained winds of about 50 knots (95km/hr) gusting to 70 knots (130 km/hr) near the centre along with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over most places.
According to the Fiji MET Office in Nadi, TC Ana centre is expected to be tracking east-southeastwards at about 15 km/hr and exiting the central part of Viti Levu (from Nausori to Pacific harbor) from midday to late afternoon today and heading towards Kadavu.