Tropical Cyclone Yasa

Cyclone Yasa damage to Fiji worth nearly $US250m

The category five storm left four people dead and thousands homeless when it hit the country in December.

Speaking in Parliament, the Disaster Management Minister Inia Seruiratu said about 139,000 people and 31,000 households were directly affected by the super storm.

Seruiratu said more than 8000 homes were destroyed.

He said the education sector was also impacted with more than 90 schools damaged across the country.

The minister said the health sector had recorded extensive damage to 25 of its facilities in Macuata, Cakaudrove, Bua and Taveuni.

Two die in Fiji from Cyclone Yasa

The then-category five storm hit Vanua Levu and its surrounding islands overnight, flattening homes, bringing down power lines and stripping the land of its vegetation.

The National Disaster Management Office Director, Vasiti Soko, said more than 93,000 Fijians had been impacted by the storm as it swept across Bua Province and the rest of Vanua Levu before tracking through the central Lau islands.

Tonga and Fiji set for inclement weather as first cyclone of season forms

Cyclone Yasa is currently a Category One storm with at least 65 kilometre an hour winds but was expected to strengthen to a Category Four system with more than 160 kilometre winds by Wednesday.

Sakeasi Waibuta from Fiji's Met Service said the storm was gathering intensity in the waters between Fiji and Vanuatu.

He said it bore a remarkable resemblance to April's deadly Cyclone Harold.