ProMASS News Bureau: Feb 20, 2016:
Southern Pacific country of Fiji was struck by its most powerful ever cyclone on Saturday. The super-storm hit the main island of Viti Levu overnight. Severe tropical cyclone Winston, with average winds of 220 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 315 kilometres per hour, is the first ever category five storm to hit Fiji. It has brought torrential rains and waves of up to 40 feet height.
The storm is expected to move westwards over the main island overnight today and into tomorrow morning. A Disaster Management official said, 758 evacuation centres have been set up in the nation of about 900,000. Flights have been cancelled and a nationwide curfew put in place. Before it landed, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama warned that Fiji was facing an ordeal of the most grievous kind. Cyclone Winston has already brushed some of Fiji’s smaller islands, but the extent of the damage is unclear.
