Cyclone Cleanup

Cleanup after Cyclone Tomas, said to be the worst here in 30 years, continues throughout Fiji. For all the reports of flattened houses, blown-off roofs, ruined plantations, and entire villages destroyed by sea swells, it’s amazing that only two people died. Of the 18,000 evacuated, many have returned to their homes. We were lucky in that we had our power restored Tuesday evening. Others on our island were told it might take two weeks to get power. It helps to be close to town.

People in Savusavu were cleaning up even before the winds had completely died down. Now things look pretty much normal in the town. But the farms and vegetable patches so many locals rely on took a real beating. The owner of one of the guest houses and restaurant we frequent said his vegetable garden was completely wiped out. We did see many resourceful locals make the best of the situation though by picking up all the coconuts blown off the trees.

By the way, there is no real difference between a hurricane and a cyclone; it’s just terminology based on where the storm is located. They are called hurricanes if they are in the North Atlantic or Northeastern Pacific Oceans, typhoons if in the Northwest Pacific, and cyclones if in the Southwest Pacific. One difference though, is that down here in the Southern Hemisphere storms spin clockwise rather than counterclockwise.