At a Glance
- The storm previously caused damage on Vanuatu.
- The cyclone came amid lockdowns because of the coronavirus threat.
- The storm was blamed for 27 deaths in the Solomon Islands.
There are reports of injuries and damaged homes as Cyclone Harold moves into the South Pacific island nation of Fiji.
Local residents said high winds moved through an area just north of the capital city of Suva at about 4 a.m. Wednesday local time, or around noon Tuesday ET.
“So we came across sort of a round of wind across our house," Siddharth Ansh told FBC News. "I told my mum that something is there. So when we came outside we heard a big round of type of wind and it just blew all the houses and all the utensils and everything just fell and broke and after that a big tree fell and messed up our house.”
The capital city is on the island of Viti Levu, the country's largest island and most heavily populated. The entire island was reportedly without power.
As of about 4:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, Harold was located about 170 miles west of Suva. The storm had weakened some but was still packing winds of 125 mph, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
Damaged homes and injuries were also reported in at least one other nearby community, according to FBC.
On Monday, a strong Cyclone Harold slashed across the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
Harold made landfall as a Category 4 storm on the east coast of Espiritu Santo island on Monday morning before heading for Vanuatu's second-largest city, Luganville.
Images from Luganville on Espiritu Santo island showed roofs blown off and buildings collapsed. So far, no injuries have been reported in Vanuatu, according to BBC.com.
(MORE: Tropical Cyclone Harold Will Pass Near Fiji and Tonga This Week)
Eric Durpaire, the chief of Vanuatu’s field office for UNICEF Pacific, told the Guardian, "Communications to Santo and Malekula [the island south of Espiritu Santo] are cut now, so we don’t know what’s happening. The latest information we had was that the roof of the municipality building of Santo has collapsed and there is flooding."
Jacqueline de Gaillande, chief executive of Vanuatu Red Cross, told Reuters, "There is lots of damage in Sanma, they lost lots of buildings."
Sanma is the province that encompasses the island of Espiritu Santo.
The Vanuatu meteorology department recorded winds of 135 mph there but said gusts were reaching 145 mph, BBC.com reported.
The department said hurricane force winds are expected to continue Monday across parts of the country of 300,000 people, as well as heavy rain, flash flooding and "very rough to phenomenal seas."
"It's been pretty slow moving which is concerning as it means the storm has a lot of time to do a lot of damage. It's a critical time for Vanuatu," Oxfam New Zealand's Darren Brunk told the Australian Associated Press.
Vanuatu is one of the few countries that has yet to report a confirmed case of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus. The country declared a state of emergency last month.
"Restrictions to international borders and travelers won’t be lifted after the cyclone. Humanitarian workers who wanted to come and assist, won’t be able to, or they will have to do 14 days quarantine," said Durpaire, the UNICEF official.
"A significant disaster at this time could present serious logistical challenges to delivering life-saving aid, while adding to the significant economic and social toll the global pandemic has already taken on the country," Elizabeth Faerua, Oxfam in Vanuatu country director, told the Guardian.
Harold is expected to pass north of the capital Port Vila early Tuesday before heading toward Fiji later this week.
As the cyclone passed south of the Solomon Islands on Friday, more than two dozen people were swept off a ferry in heavy seas.
Police said Sunday that they had retrieved the bodies of three women and two men. Twenty-two people were still missing.
