Record rainfall in city
SUVA often receives heavy rain all year round but in November, 1970 it was a record-breaking downpour.
The Fiji Times on Monday, November 30, 1970 reported that Suva was swamped by a record-breaking downpour, with it being the heaviest rainfall recorded in the city for 21 years.
According to the report, 13.67in of rain was recorded at the Laucala Bay weather office.
The cloudburst topped a fall of 11.80in which was recorded on April 29, 1949.
The recordings taken at the Government House rain gauge were not available, but from 9am on November 29, 3.28in of rainfall fell at Laucala Bay.
Stretches of Queens Rd at Lami were under water on Saturday (November 28) and Sunday (November 29).
Motorists drove along footpaths to bypass the floodwaters.
It was the same story in parts of the low-lying Suva suburbs of Vatuwaqa and at Nabua.
When the rain was at its height, drains overflowed in the area around Government Buildings and the Fiji Broadcasting Commission headquarters, turning roads and gardens into miniature rivers and lakes.
Albert Park was under two feet of water and scores of children swam and splashed around the area.
There were reports of flooding at the ground floor of the then new Bellevue flats in Gordon St and at the Suva Co-operative Association’s store in Carnarvon St.
“The drains in the area were not able to take this sort of pressure,” a proprietor of Bellevue flats, Anwar Shah said.
“Water was rushing down Malcolm Street into the garden around the flats.”
At the Suva Co-operative, staff moved stock from the store area affected by the floodwater.
The report highlighted that there were no reports of serious house flooding.
Much of the water in gardens and streets subsided as the rain eased later.
A spokesman at the Laucala Bay weather office said the downpour was caused by the convergent zone lying over the Fiji group.
There was no great danger of the Rewa River overflowing in its flood-prone lower reaches.