SYDNEY — Government officials declared a state of natural disaster inFijiafter a cyclone tore through the archipelago on Saturday, destroying villages and leaving five dead, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said on Sunday.
Mr. Bainimarama described Cyclone Winston, a Category 5 cyclone with winds up to 143 miles per hour and gusts up to 202 miles per hour, as the most powerful such storm in the country’s recorded history.
“The damage has been widespread,” he said in a statement. “Many are without power and full access to water and are cut off from communication.”
Aid workers said roofs had been blown off houses, power lines were down, roads were blocked by trees and some villages had been flooded by heavy rain.
At a hospital in the western district, patients were evacuated after a ward lost part of its roof, and at a hospital in the central district, an intensive care ward, operating room and maternity ward were flooded, Fiji’s national emergency operation center said on Sunday.
An elderly man died on Koro, an island to the east of Viti Levu, the main island, after a roof collapsed. Ewan Perrin, a spokesman for the prime minister, said that four other people had died but that the government would not release details until their next of kin had been notified.
Mr. Bainimarama said a curfew would remain in place until Monday morning to allow emergency workers to clear roads of fallen power lines and building debris. Most of the buildings in Suva, the country’s capital on the island of Viti Levu, appeared to have only minor damage.
A CARE Australia aid worker, Anna Cowley, said in a telephone interview from Suva that power outages had hampered aid efforts. “There is still a power blackout across the main island, Viti Levu, which has stopped water pumps from working,” Ms. Cowley said on Sunday, adding that patchy communications with outlying islands had made assessing the damage there difficult.
In a statement, CARE Australia said Cyclone Winston had also caused severe damage to houses and crops in Tonga, which lies to Fiji’s southeast.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/