Tonga escapes worst of Cyclone Tino

Severe Tropical Cyclone Tino "turned a large blind eye" on Tonga's main island of Tongatapu which escaped a direct hit, the head of the National Emergency Management Office said Sunday.

There were no casualties reported throughout Tonga although the sparsely populated and remote islands in the north of the archipelago were reported to have suffered severe damage as the category three storm passed overnight at high tide.

"Our Met Office says the face of Tino was to the north where all the wind and rain was, but on the south side it turned a large blind eye on Tongatapu, even though it was so close," said Paula Mau, the National Emergency Management Office director.

"It's surprising to see the effects of nature."

Tino barely grazed the capital Nuku'alofa, which had been on track for a direct hit and Tongatapu, home to most of the Tongan population, was spared the high winds and heavy rain.

However, the island groups to the north, Vava'u and Ha'apai, were hammered by torrential rain and destructive winds with gusts up to 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph).

Shane Egan, who lives in the northwest of Tongatapu, said waves reached the edges of properties, sweeping away trees and fenceposts.

"There was so much debris in the water to avoid. All our step logs, coconuts, coconut trees, branches, fence posts with nails and large coral boulders," he said, adding local youths went swimming in the freak waves.

"Everyone appeared to survive the day pretty much unscathed."

Two missing, 3,000 in shelters as Cyclone Tino hits Fiji
Suva, Fiji (AFP) Jan 18, 2020 - Tropical Cyclone Tino strengthened to a Category Three storm Saturday as it closed in on Tonga after battering Fiji where two people were missing and more than 3,000 fled to emergency shelters.

The Fiji Meteorological Service said the wind gusts from Tino had increased to 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph) and would likely have its biggest impact in the northern areas of Tonga when it hits overnight.

The Pacific kingdom is still recovering from the devastation of Cyclone Gina two years ago which caused widespread devastation, destroying houses and crops.

"The sea is very high and I'm sure beaches are being washed away in the more exposed places and the outer islands," Tupoutu'a Tonutonu told AFP from northern Vava'u.

"It's been bucketing down for about three days, the soil is waterlogged and I'm hearing trees are down in the village."

In Fiji, the National Disaster Management Office said 3,115 sought emergency shelter at the height of the storm, but most had since returned home with damage not as severe as first feared.

"We know for sure most of them went to the ECs (evacuation centres) to take shelter because of the big rains we were receiving and also because of the warnings," Uraia Rainima, a senior government official in the northern region, said.

"We have received information that most of them are moving back to their houses."

The island of Taveuni, with a population of around 19,000 people, was without power, Rainima said.

Police, meanwhile, continued the search for a father and his daughter who were swept away when they tried to cross a swollen river on Thursday evening, and said there were no other casualties.

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