Disaster teams brace for cyclone

DENARAU ISLAND: Fiji is making preparations for tropical cyclone Keni, which has been upgraded to a category two storm and is moving closer to the South Pacific Island state’s largest island, Viti Levu, and the country’s southern islands.

Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) has been on standby over the last 24 hours and has nearly 400 personnel deployed as emergency response teams on the ground across the western and northern parts of the nation.

Anare Leweniqila, NDMO director, said yesterday their priority areas in emergency preparedness were to ensure community advisories were delivered, activation of evacuation centres, and adequate personnel for emergency deployment for search and rescue operations.

“We need to ensure that the communities are adequately advised of the looming tropical cyclone and also to ensure that the areas that have been affected earlier are also looked into in terms of ensuring that they are properly moved to safe evacuation centres especially for those that have had their homes destroyed and also in the affected areas, that is particularly the focus of the mobilization of government personnel that we are adequately prepared,” he said.

Earlier yesterday, 43 evacuation centers were activated with 2 060 displaced Fijians living in them. However, that number is expected to rise as more communities are inundated with flood waters, particularly across the western part of the nation.

The director is advising the general public to move to their nearest evacuation centre while it was still daylight if they felt that they may be caught in the flash flooding. All schools in Fiji were closed yesterday and today as they would be used as evacuation centres if necessary.

Tropical cyclone Keni is moving east-southeast at 12 knots and is continuing to intensify. The Fiji Met Service has predicted that the storm will come within about 120 kilometres of Nadi, Fiji’s third largest city, by midday today and about 100 kilometre of the southern island of Kadavu later in the afternoon.

Heavy rain and storm-force winds are expected and they will have serious impact across much of Viti Levu and the southern islands. – Xinhua