SUVA, Fiji: Super cyclone Yasa slammed into Fiji’s second-largest island on Thursday, tearing roofs off buildings as it triggered flash floods and landslides in the Pacific island nation.
After days of dire warnings about widespread destruction, Fiji’s Met service said the top-of-the-scale Category Five storm made landfall on Vanua Levu late on Thursday packing winds gusts of up to 345 kilometres an hour (210 miles an hour).
It said the cyclone, one of the most powerful ever recorded in the South Pacific, would be accompanied by monster waves exceeding 10 metres (33 feet).
Yasa, which is expected to move out to sea early on Friday, landed in the sparsely populated Bau province. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties but social media posts showed flooded villages and corrugated sheeting blown off homes.
But Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama earlier warned the storm was so big that its impact was likely to be felt across the entire country. He feared destruction from Yasa would be worse than a cyclone four years ago that killed dozens. "Over 850,000 Fijians are in the direct path of the cyclone -- more than 95 percent of our population," he said.