WARNING !! Fiji under catogory 4 cyclone Tomas !!Cyclone Ului tracking towards Qld coast!!

english.aljazeera.net...

A powerful cyclone has battered the South Pacific island nation of Fiji, damaging homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee to evacuation shelters.

One death was reported as Cyclone Tomas ripped through Fiji's northern islands on Monday, damaging crops and causing power outages.

Police said a 31-year-old woman was swept away by strong ocean currents in northern Vanua Levu's Cakaudrove province late on Friday after she saved her two children from a storm surge, The Associated Press news agency reported.

5000 people are seeking shelter, I hope they dont cop the worst .Also breaking news

news.smh.com.au...



Cyclone Ului tracking towards Qld coast
March 15, 2010 - 10:19AM



A cyclone over the Coral Sea poses no immediate threat to the Queensland coast, the weather bureau says.

Cyclone Ului has weakened from a category five to a category four and is about 1470km northeast of Mackay.

"It's still over the Coral Sea just to the south of the Solomon Islands, so it's well offshore," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Michelle Berry said on Monday.

"It has weakened somewhat in the last few hours but we are anticipating it will reintensify, possibly into a category five again, early tomorrow but it will still be well offshore."

Will post more news if anything developes ,

meanwhile pray for the fijians in this time of terror .

[edit on 15-3-2010 by StaceyWilson]

another link for info on these cyclones - www.stuff.co.nz...

so glad someone finally posted this thread. I wanted to but didn't have enough posts. It is said that the cyclone tomas is bigger than Katrina was.

In Fiji all contact has now been lost with Cikobia, a small island of 70 people right under the eye of the Tomas.

This is terrible....wanted to get this at the top of myats so keep the updates coming guys. GJ breaking the news.

my thoughts are with those going through this hardship

lets hope things turn out to be not as bad as it seems.

Don't worry Fiji I'm sure Australia has your back.

I sure hope those things don't come this way. We really don't need any more rain right now.

If any of you want to check on this story the best place would be
www.fijitimes.com... that is the site of the largest newspaper here and most readily updated.
I am in Fiji if someone hasn't guessed.
The hurricane is still intensifying, with 5028 people in evacuation centers, and many roofs blown away and some falling trees damaging homes. I do feel for the people here, it is my home country after all.

However that said, I will say don't bother worrying about these people or their problems. We had 3 days of advanced warning that a hurricane was coming, It is currently the hurricane season, and people here face hurricanes every year, and if despite all that if people cannot be prepared I just don't know what to say. Its not an occasional thing here.
Whats funny is while me and my family were securing our home, two days before today, I had neighbours come over and advice me NOT to do so, reason? because they were sure the hurricane would not come. Needless to say as I am sitting comfortably in my house now, I can see and hear the neighbours trying to nail down the roof in the wind and rain.

By the way I am glad that the hurricane changed course and would be thus less devastating then if it had not done so.








[edit on 15-3-2010 by kaleshchand]

The monster storm, which is more aggressive than Hurricane Katrina when it made landfall near New Orleans, was expected to continue to track south west across the islands tonight however in the past two hours the satellite maps have revealed the eye of the storm has started to now track south, meaning conditions will remain severe tonight in the east but possibly may not get any worse. While this slight shift won't ease conditions in the far north eastern group of islands it may well spare the main island of Fiji including the capital Suva and holiday resorts near Nadi. Cyclones are well known for "zig zagging" and it will take another hour or two to confirm if this is a change in direction or merely a wobble. WeatherWatch.co.nz's head weather analyst Philip Duncan says the storm looks incredibly dangerous. "The eye of the cyclone is clear to see on the satellite maps. Tomas is an aggressive storm that is unfortunately very likely to cause widespread damage to the north eastern Fijian islands" The strongest winds are gusting up to 270km/h. Tomas is currently a weak Category 4 cyclone and overnight will most likely become a strong Category 3. "There is very little difference between a weak cat 4 and a strong cat 3. Either way this is a very serious tropical storm".

www.weatherwatch.co.nz...

Tropical Cyclone Ului, currently category 4 also, is now heading in to the open waters of the Coral Sea. Philip Duncan says while these are twin cyclones they certainly aren't identical. "Born on the same day in the same part of the world but the two are quite different. Tomas is larger in size but isn't predicted to get any more intense, if anything he will weaken tonight. Ului on the other hand is smaller but will be far more intense - a bit like a figure skater pulling its arms in Ului will spin faster and cover less area".

The severe tropical cyclone is predicted to become an intense Category 5 cyclone by midnight tonight NZT with winds gusting up to 350km/h. Computer models show the cyclone will brush the Queensland coast and WeatherWatch.co.nz says coastal damage could be severe with "phenomenal seas" likely. Current estimated time of arrival for Ului in Australia is this weekend according to WeatherWatch.co.nz with northern New Zealand potentially in the firing line around Wednesday next week.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by KiwiSoul]

Most businesses around the country will remain closed tomorrow including universities and schools, many schools have been opened as evacuation centers, they are planning on opening more evacuation centers. There will be a curfew in central and eastern division starting at 8pm localtime tonight (in about 30 minutes).

Currently the exact extent of the damage is unkown but most of it is in the smaller Islands and in Vanualevu (Labasa).

Latest Update: 8pm
FEA shut off the electricity in Savusavu and Labasa because of fallen power lines. Places in Labasa are also without water, people fijiwide have been adviced to fill water.

Taveuni Hospital has lost its roof, Another health center was closed because its generator shed was blown away. The number of people in evacuation centres has exceeded 6000.
The hurricane has started affecting the Northern division. Many places are flooded in Vanualevu and some islands have been reported to have major damage. Flooding could occur in northern division at any time as rivers are rising faster than predicted. The hurricane will probably start directly affecting the central and eastern part soon. The worst point is that this hurricane is moving very very slowly (5 to 10km/hour). At this rate any one place continually experiences the full brunt of the hurricane for up to 15 hours.

[edit on 15-3-2010 by kaleshchand]

man the paper says its a cat 5, wonder if it got downgraded or upgraded?

It has weakened somewhat in the last few hours but we are anticipating it will reintensify, possibly into a category five again, early tomorrow but it will still be well offshore."

up down up .....up?

The hurricane has now passed, with a few outer lying Islands still in its path. There has been much damage in many places, 10000+ people in evacuation centres. A state of emergency has been declared in Northern and Eastern part of the country, which will remain in effect for next 30 days. DISMAC and other groups are already accessing damage and relevant authorities are attempting to restore power and water. All in all as a country there isn't as much damage as the last hurricane, but in some communities there is much more.

Thousands have fled to evacuation centres and communications have been lost as Cyclone Tomas continues to rage through parts of Fiji. Winds averaging 175 kilometres per hour and torrential rain have hit the northern islands.

A journalist at Fiji Broadcasting Commission Ritika Pratat says they do not have a clear idea of the damage in that northern area, but says they are still experiencing heavy rain and strong winds. She says there are reports of flooding in the outer smaller islands, but people have been moved to higher ground or are safe in evacuation centres.

Ms Pratat says around 10,000 people are filling the almost 180 evacuation centres around Fiji.

A change in direction for the fierce cyclone means the main island of Fiji looks like it may have a lucky escape. Cyclone Tomas began moving south last night, with a group of south-eastern islands in its path. Still rated a category four cyclone, it is likely to cause extreme damage in those areas.

Weather Watch head weather analyst Philip Duncan says the new direction means Suva and Nadi will be spared any major damage. He says he would be surprised if there was anything too drastic happening on the main island of Fiji, apart from a stormy day that should not be too different from other stormy days.

Mr Duncan says once it moves over these islands Tomas will hit cooler waters, and he expects it will die out very quickly over the next day or so.