Vanuatu escapes cyclone damage

PORT VILA – Vanuatu has escaped virtually unscathed after Tropical Cyclone Ula took a more southerly track and picked up speed as it head away from the archipelago’s southern islands.

Initial reports show some damage to food gardens in Tafea Province but there are no reports of casualties or destruction of infrastructure.

Disaster management officials have started to take stock of damage and full reports should be available by tomorrow.

Some villagers were relocated, taking shelter in sturdy buildings until the threat from the cyclone passed.

Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office Director, Peter Korisa, said Futuna Island was lucky.

“We expected that this island would suffer the most because the system was passing most closely to this island,” he told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.

“But the Meteorological Service on the island reports wind speeds of around 30 knots on land and there’s not much damage on the island.”

Korisa said no assistance is needed for Tafea Province at this stage after Cyclone Ula moved to the south of the group.

Korisa says their informal networks have indicated there is little damage aside from flooded crops.

He says provincial authorities haven’t asked for assistance yet.

“It seems that the situation is not that severe that really requires immediate humanitarian response. Damage is not that huge.”

Peter Korisa says the silver lining of the storm is that areas that had been facing water shortages received rain over the past few days.

The system has decreased to a Category two and is currently in open sea, moving south-east and looks likely to miss the top of New Zealand.

MetService meteorologist Peter Little said the tropical cyclone was moving in a south easterly direction but at this stage looked like it would pass to the north of the country.

Ula developed about 12 days ago before causing torrential rain in parts of Fiji and Tonga.

Cyclone Ula has been downgraded to a Category Two storm since leaving Vanuatu waters.

- PNC