Cyclone forces Fiji flight cancellations
Australian holiday makers will spend the weekend in Fiji hiding from a powerful cyclone as airlines cancel all flights to and from the Pacific island group.
Virgin, Jetstar and Fiji Airways have either suspended or brought forward flights between Australia and Fiji as the category-5 tropical cyclone Winston descends on the island, bringing with it winds approaching 300km/h.
Acting head of the Pacific, International Federation of Red Cross Ahmed Sani, who is currently barricaded in his office in Suva, Fiji, says fierce gusts of wind are pushing trees almost to the ground.
“There is no one outside; it is almost impossible to stay outdoors,” he told AAP on Saturday afternoon.
As night nears, locals and holiday makers have been told to stay indoors for three days, Mr Sani said, and to stockpile on dry food that will sustain them for a while.
“We have seen people shopping for the last few days, and from today, the shops are now closed and we hope people have sufficient stock to survive,” he said.
Australians on holidays will have to wait at least until Monday to fly home as Virgin Australia cancels all services to and from Nadi, Fiji.
A total of 12 flights departing or arriving at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this weekend have been affected, with Monday flights under review depending on weather conditions.
“Affected guests, including guests scheduled to travel to Nadi on Monday, have the option of switching their date of travel or destination with change fees waived or receiving a full travel credit,” a statement from the airline said.
A Virgin spokesman said the information was that Saturday and Sunday would not change.
Jetstar has also cancelled four flights on Saturday and Sunday between Gold Coast, Sydney and Nadi.
“We will evaluate all flights on Monday depending on what happens tonight and tomorrow,” a Jetstar spokesman said.
Fiji Airways has suspended five flights between Nadi and Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, while also bringing forward two flights to avoid the destructive winds and heavy rain that have begun pummelling the island.
The airline is extending a waiver of fees for all passengers holding a valid ticket issued on or before Friday, for travel between Friday and Thursday, February 25.
Winston, which has intensified to a category-5 storm, has already lashed Tonga and is reportedly affecting eastern areas of Fiji.
The storm is forecast to hit the more populated western islands over the weekend.
The storm is carrying average winds of 220km/h, with gusts of up to 315km/h recorded, according to Fiji’s Meteorological Service.
A Qantas charter service from Honiara in the Solomon Islands to Nadi on Saturday night has been cancelled, as has the subsequent return service from Nadi to Honiara.
Fiji has declared a nationwide curfew, as 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 on Saturday and began to track west towards Suva, the capital of Fiji, packing winds of 230km/h, with gusts of up to 325km/h.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama urged Fijians to prepare themselves for a “terrible event”, the 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 6pm,” 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 5pm 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.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Winston was following a path that might spare Suva the full force of its winds, rated as category 5, the highest ranking on the hurricane wind scale.
“The cyclone has tracked further north than expected over the past 24 hours,” the UN agency said.
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