Suva, Dec 15: A cyclone has struck the Pacific island nation of Fiji, killing four people, causing major flooding and blackouts, and driving almost 4,000 people into emergency shelters, Fiji media reported on Tuesday.
Two of the victims were swept away by floodwaters while a young boy was hit by a falling tree, state broadcaster Fiji One said, citing police.
Fiji’s Disaster Management Committee acting director Pajilai Dobui said Cyclone Mick, measured at category 2 on a scale of one to a maximum intensity of 5, forced more than 3,800 people to seek emergency shelter late on Monday.
Many had returned to their homes on Tuesday.
The west of Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu was the hardest hit by the storm, which uprooted trees and caused widespread power blackouts across the country due to fallen power lines.
“There’s a lot of tree damage,” Tim Sutton from UNICEF’s Pacific office in the Fiji capital Suva told.
“We’ve had the wind damage, and now the flooding damage is starting to kick in.”
–Agencies