Tonga could cop full force of Cyclone Tino Tonga/Fiji

People on Tonga’s main islands are being told to stay home and secure their properties as Cyclone Tino moves closer to the country.

The storm was upgraded to a category three yesterday as it continued to intensify in the waters near Fiji’s Lau group, with sustained winds predicted to increase to as much as 130kmh.

The cyclone showed little sign of relenting, said Stephen Meke, a forecaster at the Fiji Meteorological Service, and was on track to pass very close to, or even directly over, Tonga’s main island Tongatapu and the low-lying capital, Nuku’alofa. ‘‘Tonga might get the full brunt of it.’’

In Tonga, a hurricane warning had been issued for Tongatapu, Vava’u, Ha’apai and ’Eua, the government said. It warned of flooding in low-lying areas and heavy to damaging swells along the coast, pushed by waves as high as nine metres.

If it follows its predicted track, Tino would be the second direct hit taken by Tongatapu in as many years.

In February 2018, category five Cyclone Gita caused widespread devastation, destroying many houses, wiping out crops, and reducing the former parliament building to rubble.

The cyclone brushed past Fiji’s northern islands on Thursday and Friday. On Vanua Levu, the country’s second-largest island, there were reports of flooding, roads and crops being washed away, and some houses being damaged.

About 1600 people spent the night in evacuation centres as a precaution. Police were still searching for a father and daughter who were swept away in the Central Division on Viti Levu while trying to cross a river.– RNZ