Blake and Deb in Fiji: After the Storm

Our little town of Savusavu fared relatively well in the wake of Cyclone Tomas. The cyclone did reach Category 4, but it shifted just far enough east to spare us the worst. Other parts of our island of Vanua Levu, the neighboring island of Taveuni, and the smaller islands of the Lau group suffered much worse. Our location is fairly well sheltered by surrounding hills, particularly when storms are to the east of us. Still, we had some excitement.

We were safe and snug in our concrete hotel with a nice view of the action. There was plenty of wind and rain, but not quite to the degree we anticipated since we were originally expecting the storm to come right over us. Nevertheless, it’s impressive how much abuse a palm tree can take and still remain standing. Monday was the worst day of the cyclone, but even Sunday night we had a hard time sleeping with all the sound and fury raging outside. We lost power that night also, which made Monday all the more difficult because we were stuck in our hotel room with mediocre books to read from the local book exchange and without any of the little electronic diversions to which we have become accustomed, so we didn’t even have any news on the status of the cyclone. What’s worse, I forgot to bring a sketchbook. Apart from the storm itself, our biggest source of entertainment was watching bits of sheet metal roofing fly off the building in front of us as a father and son continually tried to patch it, weigh it down with concrete blocks, or hammer it back into place, all the while crawling around on the second story roof with bare feet in raging wind and rain.

By Tuesday morning the winds started to shift and it was evident the cyclone was moving away from us. We still didn’t have power at the hotel, and therefore none back at the house either, which meant no light, no water pump and no electric screw gun to remove all the cyclone shutters so we could get back inside. But we were sick of being cooped up so we called Semoko to see if we could stay at his place if necessary, or at least make use of his plumbing (he doesn’t rely on a water pump), and he agreed. We checked out later that morning.

We took a walk through town first to assess the damage. All in all the town was in pretty good shape: some broken signs, toppled fences, snapped off tree limbs, downed telephone lines, and piles of leaves and branches everywhere. But nothing major that we saw. It was a similar story for the houses lining the road back up the hill to our house, although it must be said that many are so ramshackle that they always look as though a hurricane had just come through. There were a few houses missing sections of roof, but mostly over carports or sheds. Lots of tree and vegetation damage though. Back at our house the landscaping took a beating as well, with a few major tree branches snapped off and many other plants toppled or at least leaning heavily to one side. We spent most of the afternoon cleaning up the yard. It actually felt good to be outside doing something physical after our time of cyclone-induced immobility, and I got to feel like a real Fijian as I wandered about wielding a cane knife.

The good news is that the house is completely undamaged. None of the surrounding trees landed on it and all the metal roof panels are still happily attached. The other good news is that Mother Nature’s pruning job has opened up the view a bit more. We can see a bit more of the bay and the overall feel is a bit more open and expansive. One more cyclone and we might really improve this place.