Homes have been flattened along the Nabouwalu coast and inland, and roofs were blown off homes in Dreketi, forcing a family to seek shelter underneath their home after severe tropical cyclone Yasa battered the area earlier this evening.
“We just wanted it to be over, it is frightening. Isa o Bua. Keimami sa vakaloloma,” Joseva Tagi who is sheltering at the Government station in Nabouwalu told MaiTV before communications were lost.
In Navimoli, Dreketi, a family of ten, the youngest, a toddler and the eldest aged 59 years, sought shelter in a crawl space – with just enough room to crawl through – under their home after strong winds tore apart their kitchen and blew off part of the roof of their main house.
“It was frightening, but had to keep my composure for the sake of my children,” said Nanise Takavesi, whose children are aged two and six years. “It was hard – trying to keep calm when you can hear the winds howling around you and the sound of corrugated iron sheets peeling off of the roof and crashing into nearby bushes. We could not do much else but huddled in the middle underneath the house to steer clear of flying debris.”
Nanise Takavesi
“And the fact that it’s night time, you can’t see what’s flying around yet you hear the frightening sound of the wind is scary,” Mereseini Finau told us from Namara in Labasa.
As at 6pm today, 14 evacuation centres in the North were operational with 270 people from 33 households – 18 per cent of the total number of people who have moved to 78 evacuation centres in the four divisions.
After making landfall in Bua, severe TC Yasa has since transited across Vanua Levu. It is projected to weaken gradually, as it tracks southeastward, to a category four system tomorrow and downgraded further to a cat two system on Sunday before it dissipates.
Photo: Dreketi family takes shelter underneath their home (insert) and partly damaged roof of their main house (main photo). Photo Supplied
