One person has been killed and five, including a three-year-old boy, are still missing after Cyclone Ana crashed into Fiji on Sunday, just over a month after Category 5 tore Cyclone Yasa through the country’s northern islands.
Two more cyclones are already forming on Fiji’s coastline, and the cyclone season has three months left.
More than 10,000 people remain in emergency evacuation centers after torrential rains and strong winds caused severe flooding and major damage to buildings, crops and public infrastructure.
Most of the country has been without electricity since Sunday and there have also been reports of widespread water outages.
Police were seen patrolling center fibers on fiberglass boats as the heavy downpour, coupled with high tides, overwhelmed drainage systems. Officers rescued two babies after a tree fell on the house where they were hiding.
“Tropical cyclone Ana, the 2nd in a month, is leaving Fiji and leaving a difficult recovery behind,” said Fiji’s ambassador to the United Nations, Satyendra Prasad.
‘On a personal note, boats sail into my mother’s home street for the first time in our family history to save. We have been living here since 1921. Fiji will rebuild. ”
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who spoke out strongly about the effects of climate change on the Pacific Islands, said: “Forecasts are putting another potential cyclone on TC Ana’s heels … three storms hit Fiji in just over a month”.
“Today, my priority is the safety of Fijians, but the rest of the world needs to wake up and consider why this is happening.”
The Fiji government announced a 36-hour march in front of the cyclone on Saturday, but reversed the decision after strong public criticism on social media. The country has had to stick to a daily evening clock since March 19, when it announced the first confirmed case of Covid-19.
A three-year-old boy went missing near Lautoka, on the island of Viti Levu, after going with his grandfather to see if a boat was caught in mangroves.
The number of causes is expected to increase as authorities conduct damage assessments in the coming days and reach isolated areas cut off by floodwaters.
The National Disaster Management Office said 10,259 people were sheltering in 318 evacuation centers across the country, with 5,776 in the northern part of Fiji hit hard by TC Yasa.
Schools have remained closed since Friday, with many serving as evacuation centers, but businesses and public transport in Suva may open from today.
By Sunday evening, as TC Ana was slowly leaving Fiji waters, two more cyclones had apparently formed, Category 1 TC Bina approaching from the northwest of the country and TC Lucas in the western coral sea off the Australian coast.
TC Bina has since been downgraded to a tropical depression by the Fiji Meteorological Office, while TC Lucas does not pose an immediate threat to the Fijian archipelago.
There are three months left before the end of Fiji’s cyclone season, which runs from November to April.