Fiji declared a nationwide curfew on Saturday (January 20), as airlines suspended flights and the prime minister warned people to seek refuge from a
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Fiji declared a nationwide curfew on Saturday (January 20), as airlines suspended flights and the prime minister warned people to seek refuge from a cyclone that could prove to be the Pacific island nation’s most powerful on record.
After twice hammering outlying islands in nearby Tonga last week, Cyclone Winston re-intensified and began to track west towards Suva, the capital of Fiji, packing winds of 230 km per hour, with gusts of up to 325 kph.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama urged Fijians to prepare themselves for a “terrible event”, Australian broadcaster ABC reported.
“We cannot afford to be complacent,” it quoted the prime minister as saying. “And I am especially concerned that some people in urban areas do not appear to have heeded the warnings about the seriousness of the threat.”
A nationwide curfew has been imposed, the government said on social media website Facebook.
“A total public curfew will take effect across the country today from 6.00 p.m.,” it added. It issued a list of 758 evacuation centres across the nation of just under 900,000 people.
As Fiji’s weather service warned people in the east to “expect very destructive hurricane-force winds,” Suva resident Alice Clements said the power had failed just after 5.00 p.m. and she expected water supplies to be hit next.
“I have palm trees flying all around me at the moment,” Clements, an official with a UN agency, told Reuters news agency.
Airlines Virgin and Jetstar suspended flights into and out of Fiji’s international airport at Nadi, while the national carrier suspended all flights.
Fiji hit by 'strongest ever' cyclone, nation on lockdown https://t.co/HUX5o3jJsD #CycloneWinston pic.twitter.com/GwXcMWDqbB
— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 20, 2016