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Posted on 01/13/2003 9:52:47 PM PST by Willie Green
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SUVA, Fiji (Reuters) - Tropical Cyclone Ami lashed northern Fiji with winds of up to 115 mph Tuesday, unleashing floods, destroying homes and possibly killing two children when it razed a church where a whole village sheltered.
Almost all the 60 or so people from the island village of Druadrua who sought refuge in the church escaped before its walls collapsed, Radio station Viti FM said.
But Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said it was feared that two children had been trapped under the shattered building.
"At this stage there are unconfirmed reports that the cyclone has claimed two victims on the island of Druadrua," Qarase told reporters in the capital Suva, referring to the missing children.
All communications with the island of Vanua Levu, where a quarter of Fiji's 800,000 people live, and surrounding atolls in the South Pacific archipelago's north and east were cut at about 5 a.m. (1700 GMT Monday) after Ami swept over them and caused heavy flooding in low-lying areas and towns.
Qarase was meeting his cabinet Tuesday and was expected to declare a state of emergency for the northern islands, which are dotted with idyllic tourist resorts.
National Disaster Controller Mosese Sikivou said a high tide would soon worsen already widespread flooding after Vanua Levu's northern coast around the main town of Labasa was whipped by strong winds and heavy rain.
"A high tide is coming in and that is going to spell disaster in the low-lying areas," Sikivou told Reuters.
Evacuation centers were opened across Vanua Levu Monday and people were advised to leave their homes if water levels around the sugar and tourism hub of Labasa began to rise. They were also warned to make sure they had adequate stocks of food, water, first aid supplies and batteries.
Tourists were told to contact their hotels for advice.
CELEBRITY RESORT SAFE
A staff member at one of Fiji's most exclusive hotels, the Wakaya Island Resort favored by Hollywood stars such as Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, said it was undamaged. He said celebrities were staying there but declined to give details.
Police reported that the town of Savusavu on Vanua Levu's south coast suffered extensive damage and flooding while around 500 villagers on the island of Nayau in the Northern Lau Group fled to shelter in hillside caves from a massive storm surge.
Military spokesman Warrant Officer Nuemi Leweni said Fiji's army and navy were on standby and Qarase said the damage would become clear when phone links were restored by Tuesday afternoon.
The cyclone is the second to hit the South Pacific in as many weeks. Thousands of inhabitants of a remote part of the Solomon Islands chain northwest of Fiji survived powerful Cyclone Zoe, which hammered the area with 190 mph winds.
Fiji's meteorology service reported at 12:12 p.m. (7:12 p.m. EST Monday) that Ami was packing average winds of 84 mph, with gusts of up to 115 mph.
Its center at that time was about 62 miles west-southwest of the town of Lakeba on Vanua Levu's northeast coast and was moving south at a brisk 23 mph.
"On its projected path, AMI is likely to cause destructive to very destructive storm to hurricane-force winds over the whole of the Lau group (of islands) today," meteorology director Rajendra Prasad said in a statement.
There were reports that two boats went missing trying to reach shelter in Vanua Levu. One was a fishing boat and the other a passenger boat but no other details were available.
Fiji's prison's commissioner Aisate Taoka said his department had an emergency plan in place to evacuate inmates from the prison island of Nukulau off the capital Suva, where George Speight, the leader of a May 2000 coup, is being held.
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