TC Daman Aftermath : Photos,Videos and News

[Crostorm]

The Nadi Weather Office says residents from Nausori to Navua will soon starts to get gale force winds with gusty conditions.

Director of Meteorology Rajendra Prasad says the Central Division will experience marginal gale force winds and strong gusty conditions.

Prasad says once the system passes Vanua Levu and curves southeast towards the Lau Group, there could be winds affecting the southeastern or eastern part of Viti Levu.

“They will experience some effect of it. If this system takes a straight to southeastern nosedive as has been predicted by the global model, they always predict it to curve southeast despite its movement eastward, then they could be experiencing more than marginal gale force winds and than rainfall would be following in terms of heavy downpours and flooding,” he said.

“At the moment our main focus is seems to be Northern Division than later on the Eastern Division.”

LABASA

As Hurricane Daman moves towards the Northern Division, Labasa residents have been warned to move to higher ground because the Labasa River could burst its banks at the next high tide at 5pm.

DISMAC head in the North, Akhil Chand, has called on residents to heed the call as the town prepares for its fourth flood in three years.

SAVUSAVU

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Centre has confirmed that the Bagata/Vunivesi Bridge in Savusavu is under water.

DISMAC official Viliame Tuimanu says the confirmation comes from the North as Hurricane Daman continues to move closer to Vanua Levu.

“We just received a report from the divisional emergency operation centre northern that the Bagata/Vunivesi Bridge is underwater and motorists are advised to take precautionary measures.”

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[Crostorm]

Cyclone Daman is due to hit northern Vanua Levu island tonight and on over Taveuni and the islands of the Lau Group.

In the last two hours Cyclone Daman has changed course away from the tourist heavy areas of western Viti Levu.

Neighbouring Tonga has been put on alert.

"It has undergone some very erratic behaviour and its path is changing all the time," Fiji Meteorology Service head Rajendra Prasad told Fairfax Media a short time ago.

It was heading for the Vanua Levu town of Labasa which on January 14, 2003, was devastated by Cyclone Ami, killing nine people.

Daman is a now a category four hurricane on a five point scale and is stronger than Ami.

Prasad said while Vanua Levu is most likely to face the full force, he warned all of Fiji to be careful.

"This storm has been so unpredictable so far, if it could take a southward dive the rest of Fiji will get hit too."

Auckland engineer Murray Thomson is working on a resort on Laucala Island, just east of Taveuni and is in the bulls-eye.

He told Fairfax Media that they had suffered strong winds and heavy rains for the last couple of days but in the last couple of hours an "absolute calmness" has settled over the island.

Looking north, toward Daman, the sky was very black.

"But one thing you do note is that the water has taken on this beautiful pristine blue which is unusual with this kind of cloud cover," Thomson said.

People were moving around quickly getting ready with material tied down, containers re-packed and boats put out to sea.

There was no sense of panic.

"It seems to be calm with the people, they know what to do.... Its basically, the scenario, is the calm before the storm."

Dr Prasad said two days ago Daman was not taken seriously by international forecasting agencies which each day reach a consensus agreement on what will happen.

"At the beginning all these models were not giving it any interest, thinking it was a weak feeble thing."

But last night it underwent "explosive development" and grew in power and changed track several times.

In the latest formal warning the Fiji weather office says that at 11 am Daman was 235 kilometres west-northwest of Labasa and moving at 20 kilometres per hour.

They warn it may change course in the afternoon and are expecting it to cross Vanua Levu and out over Taveuni and the Northern Lau Group.

On the scale Daman "is a very severe cyclone and increasingly very dangerous".

Storm surges of three to five metres above normal are expected along the coast and flooding in low lying areas.

The weather office has called for evacuations.

"Resident and authorities in Tonga should closely watch this system as it works its way through the Lau Group."

A short time ago Air Pacific cancelled flights out of Nadi. In a statement they said flights to Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney were halted until operating conditions could be confirmed.

Sala Toganivalu of the Fiji Tourist Bureau said it was very calm in Nadi right now, with no strong winds and no rain.

"The calm before the storm I would think," he said.

State owned Fiji Broadcasting is reporting that Labasa was at a standstill with people racing to prepare for the storm.

Fiji's National Centre for Disaster Management says its offices nationwide are on full alert

[Crostorm]

Fiji Meteorological Department runs out of cash at critical timeFriday, December 07, 2007

AS the Nadi weather office monitors the movement of Hurricane Daman Director Rajendra Prasad says his department has run out of cash.

Prasad says this means the department does not have any money for fuel. Prasad says the department has not been able to pay its electricity bill and that the FEA called him today to say power to the Met Service would be disconnected.

He says the Nausori radar has gone down and he needs money to send his staff from Nadi in their official vehicle to fix the problem but there is no money for fuel.

“Yes certainly our financial constraints have been there and with this automation of our budget process as soon as you run out of allocation we can’t even purchase fuel no. Our power bills basically the allocation was busted so it will not accept in the system in the bar system with manual processing."

" We could actually issue the LPO than reach to the fund later but in this case the system is not accepting so today I think FEA wanted to come and disconnect the power in the centre over here.”

Prasad says there will be consequences but his office cannot do much.

“But what can we do if you are at fault not paying up your bills, you don’t have the funds and now our Nausori radar is down. I have been trying to send a technician down but somehow the person did not get there in time so the radar has gone down and which means we have a blackout in terms of reaching the Nausori radar which covers Vanua Levu, Lau group, etc and given the system is expected to curve towards southeast the problem now is we trying to look around pay fuel and I have used my pocket fuels in the past but how long can you go?”

[Chacor]

I think it's absolutely stupid that the government won't help. Then again, they've just had a coup and are under military rule, so I'm not surprised.

[P.K.]

AS the Nadi weather office monitors the movement of Hurricane Daman Director Rajendra Prasad says his department has run out of cash.

Prasad says this means the department does not have any money for fuel. Prasad says the department has not been able to pay its electricity bill and that the FEA called him today to say power to the Met Service would be disconnected.

He says the Nausori radar has gone down and he needs money to send his staff from Nadi in their official vehicle to fix the problem but there is no money for fuel.

This is very worrying, do you have a link to this story? In the event of this happening TCWC Wellington would take over.

[Chacor]

Fiji just issued warning #12 as scheduled.

[HurricaneRobert]

The RSMC in Nadi exists largely because of the efforts of Australia, Japan, and the United States, so the government in Fiji probably never considered it a high priority.

[P.K.]

Ok I've found the link to the above story on the funding.

http://www.radiofiji.com.fj/fullstory.php?id=6360

[CrazyC83]

The RSMC in Nadi exists largely because of the efforts of Australia, Japan, and the United States, so the government in Fiji probably never considered it a high priority.

That's so true, it is a very small country so maintaining such is a tall order. IMO, Australia should be responsible for the S Pacific.

[Chacor]

Seriously, no one cares what you think. Especially with such a ridiculous claim as that. Fiji being "very small" doesn't affect its capability to run anything.

[Squarethecircle]

You might not care what he thinks, but that does not mean you are the lone opinion.

I would prefer it stays in the hands of Fiji, but it would be best if all of these RSMCs, and the JTWC, provided all sorts of fancy scholarship type things so that they can figure out who exactly would be the best for the job.

Also, I don't see why Fiji should have trouble running a basin that is for the most part empty.

[HurricaneBill]

The island of Cikobia took a direct hit. Fortunately, the 70 people on the island sheltered in caves.

Fijian Villagers Survive Cyclone Daman

[HurricaneRobert]

Since there are no pictures in this thread yet: