Floods in Fiji.

Fiji is again having severe flooding in the North of Viti Levu.  It's only months since the last one although everyone is saying this one is so much worse.

The little town of Ba, today.

Outside Nadi!
Today!

However Deuba, further south, is doing fine although the weather is not great:

Deuba today.

And when I asked Allen how Sigatoka was going, I was sent this:

 NOT Sigatoka today!

I was shocked until I looked closer and realised that, despite those enormous potholes, this is NOT anywhere in Fiji.  NOT funny, Allen!!!  OK, it may not be helpful but it's still kinda a little bit funny!

And here's the news story: 

 

MICHAEL FIELD
Last updated 13:44 30/03/2012
South Pacific
A severe storm is causing massive disruption across Fiji and there are mounting fears of a big death toll.
The major towns of Nadi, Sigatoka and Rakiraki are under water and news websites report dozens of people are trapped in the fast rising waters.
A severe tropical depression brewed up last night south west of Fiji and there are concerns it will turn later today into a significant tropical cyclone.
Fiji has not yet recovered from a severe January storm which killed eight people and caused millions of dollars in damage.
The Fiji Meteorological Service says the western half of Viti Levu, Yasawa and Mamanuca groups, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands are being hit.
Fijivillage reports that a curfew has been imposed in Ba as rescue operations are launched to free people trapped in rapidly rising waters.
Fijivillage reported that ''10 people are now holding on to a branch of a tree in Elevuka Ba''.
Firefighters are trying to rescue dozens of others.
In Nadi – the home base for the tourist industry, people are trapped in trees.
A bus is fully submerged. No one knows what has happened to the occupants.
Air New Zealand has cancelled its flight to Nadi this afternoon. Air Pacific, which has cancelled all Fiji domestic flights, has also delayed all inbound flights into Nadi from abroad.

This is my second attempt to post this blog. I'd just completed a long post on doing post-disaster Search and Rescue in Fiji when we were kids, but when I pressed "publish" the entire thing just vanished into the ether and I really don't feel up to writing those stories again, but they are good stories so I really should tell you about them one day, only not today.

Although I still have this snippet still left on cut-and-paste:

"Growing up in Fiji, after every cyclone, The Royal Suva Yacht Club would be out there, our boats trawling up and down Rewa River, doing Search and Rescue ... and I now recall those harsh days of hard, hard work - sitting on the prow of our boat, not wearing my too-cumbersome life-jacket, living up to my childhood nickname "Bright Eyes", watching out for for bodies, hopefully still alive, clutching to trees and logs in among the debris - as the very best times of my young life."

So all the stories on a few of the rescues have been lost, but one day ... one day ... when I'm not feeling so annoyed, I'll tell them again.

In the meantime, good luck everyone in Fiji.  Stay safe and I don't envy you the clean-up, no siree, not at all.