The town of Nadi flooded after Cyclone Gene comes calling

Interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has declared a state of disaster in areas around Fiji that were affected by last week's Cyclone Gene.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour curfew has been declared in the town of Nadi, near Fiji's main international airport, after it was flooded by the tropical cyclone, which strafed the Pacific island state, killing at least seven people.

Police commissioner Esala Teleni said the curfew was necessary for public safety as the town — the main gateway for foreign tourists heading for Fiji's offshore island resorts — remained flooded, the Fiji Times website reported. Teleni said the curfew would be reviewed daily, while the state of emergency would be reviewed in 30 days time. Radio New Zealand reported from the capital Suva that a seventh person had died in the cyclone but gave no details. Cyclone Gene cut power lines and water supplies, wrecked crops and filled evacuation centres with families driven from their homes by flooding, according to reports received in New Zealand.

 

As the cyclone moved off into the Pacific, the island state's Disaster Management Office said it had not been able to assess the total damage but half the country's population of about 920,000 may have been affected. It quoted an official as confirming the town of Nadi, near Fiji's main international airport, was under water. The category 2 cyclone did massive damage to infrastructure on Fiji's main island Viti Levu, where winds gusting up to 150 kilometres an hour brought down power lines, plunging many areas including the capital, Suva, into darkness.

PM Voreqe has earmarked $5 million for immediate food and water rations for affected areas. Education Minister Filipe Bole said that all schools would be closed for the next three days while the damage was assessed and conditions were ruled safe for students to return, the website reported. More than 50 houses in the town of Navua were destroyed by raging floodwaters and strong winds after the Navua River burst its banks.Two linesmen were killed when they were hit by falling power lines near Lautoka, a person drowned in a swollen creek in Suva and another died when a candle lit during the blackout set fire to a house. A woman died in a Suva hospital of injuries sustained during the storm, and another victim was killed while fishing. Reports said power was gradually being restored on Viti Levu and the second island, Vanua Levu.

— DPA