Free Republic

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Two tropical cyclones are bearing down on three South Pacific island nations creating a "critically dangerous situation", weather officials said on Tuesday. Cyclones Olaf and Nancy, which are expected to hit Samoa, American Samoa and the Cook islands, could cross paths creating one giant, destructive storm centre where the two cyclones spin around each other until one is flung off. "For the South Pacific it is unusual to have two cyclones this close together," said Kevin Vang at the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information. "This has the making of an absolute mess,"...

Hundreds of foreign tourists have been evacuated from the Cook Islands as Cyclone Meena nears super-cyclone status. Winds close to the eye of Meena have been estimated at 230 kilometres an hour, giving it a severity rating of four, one level short of the maximum. "This is now a critically dangerous situation" for the Cook Islands, the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information said on its website. The cyclone is forecast to pass very near or over the main island of Rarotonga, with the capacity to cause severe damage to the capital late tonight and tomorrow. Huge seas...