Cyclone Pam lashes Vanuatu with direct hit as a category 5

VANUATU – The Washington Post reports that Tropical Cyclone Pam –

a monster storm in the South Pacific – is thrashing the capital island of Vanuatu in the dead of night, in what has turned out to be the nightmare scenario for the tiny island nation that faces some of the most pressing worries from rising sea levels and climate change.

Home to around 66,000 people, the island of Efate and Vanuatu’s capital city Port Vila were enduring a direct hit from the cyclone’s eye wall Friday night, local time.

Pam was forecast to track about 100 miles east of the island, which would have spared Vanuatu of the most serious impacts.

Unfortunately, the cyclone has been bucking the forecast on a more westward path for a couple of days now, and Vanuatu is paying the price as it swipes Efate at what appears to be its peak intensity.

Pam’s sustained winds are up to 265 kmh, with gusts nearing 320 kmh, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

The weather station at the airport in Port Vila went offline around 8pm local time.

The hurricane-chasing team ‘iCyclone’ is in Vanuatu and providing and seeking reports on Facebook. Some people on Vanuatu have been able to post replies via mobile service, but there has been widespread power loss.

ICyclone posted – 11:25 pm Friday (Vanuatu): “The eye of Cyclone PAM has veered a tad E and seems to be skimming along the E side of Efate. Reports from Port Vila are frightening, and we have several brave iCyclone members who are posting to this page as they huddle in bathrooms and safe rooms. A member in Port Vila reported 944.6 mb and turbulent, shifting winds at about 11:10 pm VUT – I’m trying to find out more about this reading, as we have so little other data to work with. To folks on Efate who are still with us: HANG IN THERE. We’re all with you in spirit.”

A recent report on natural disaster vulnerability found that Port Vila is the most exposed city to natural disasters of any of the 1,300 cities studied.

The Natural Hazards Risk Atlas, published by the British analytics company Verisk Maplecroft, found that Port Vila is at risk for earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones.

Global warming-related sea level rise is leading to more damaging coastal flooding in island nations such as Vanuatu.

The country is one of a bloc of small island states lobbying industrialized nations to undertake steep carbon emissions reductions to avert the most significant impacts of global warming.

Other members of the small island alliance also were effected by Cyclone Pam, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.