Cyclone devastates Samoa

15 Dec 2012, 9:28 am   -   Source: SBS, AFP

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Tropical Cyclone Evan is heading towards Tokelau and Fiji after causing widespread damage and killing at least four people in Samoa.

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A state of disaster has been declared in Samoa, after cyclone Evan hit, causing widespread flooding and killing at least four people with more missing.

The Pacific nation of Samoa faces up to two weeks without electricity, after a cyclone that killed two people and sent hundreds fleeing to safety destroyed its main power station.

Cyclone Evan hit on Thursday afternoon, uprooting trees, tearing roofs off houses and flooding the capital Apia (ah-pee-uh), prompting the Samoan government to declare a disaster and order a massive clean-up operation.

But forecasters say fears have abated that the storm, described by witnesses as the worst in decades, would return and hit the city for a second time.

The Disaster Management Office says hospitals and other essential services are using standby generators, with water supplies also out and most roads cut off by fallen trees and power poles.

Tautala Mauala, from the Samoan Red Cross, says thousands of people have sought refuge in evacuation centres.

"We have managed to identify and co-ordinate seven evacuation centres for these people. It's more than three-thousand now and the people are still coming in," she said.

The Fiji Meteorological Service has warned the cyclone could threaten northern parts of Tonga on Saturday and reach Fiji by Sunday.

World News Australia reporter Tuipoloa Evan Charlton is in Samoa and says there's many personal stories of loss.

Here he recounts one man's story of survival in the storm.

"It was a double whammy because not only has he lost his business, but he told me his house was flooded right up to the windows and he managed to escape with just with the clothes that he was wearing, his car and his lap top, but I also feel sorry for my friends in Australia and New Zealand because their relatives will be asking them to contribute significantly to the reconstruction at a time of the year when overseas families are already stretched with remittance obligations," he said.

"It's feared Tonga and Fiji could be next in line for a battering by the cyclone."

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