Fiji heads for the hills, again

GREG FOWLER/Supplied

Locals survey the flooded streets in Fiji.

GREG FOWLER/Supplied

A photo sent in by Stuff reader Greg Fowler shows a flooded bridge outside Nadi.

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Fijians are being told to urgently head to higher ground as another severe storm begins to hit the island nation.

The warning comes as authorities say the death toll from the storm earlier this week has reached seven.

But Fiji Meteorological Service head Rajendra Prasad says severe flooding will take place throughout the whole country.

He is also warning of strong winds.

Many of the areas already badly affected are expected to be hit again.

Meanwhile Nadi Airport was nearly empty this afternoon as flights got away to Australia and New Zealand.

An official at the airport said two more flights, including one to Samoa, were expected to leave this afternoon.

However Air Pacific is warning future flights today and tomorrow could be delayed or cancelled as severe thunderstorms prevented refuelling of aircraft.

Earlier the Fiji National Emergency Operation Centre three people died in landslides while four from drowning in the earlier storm.

The latest confirmed deaths are of a 19-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy who drowned in separate incidents near Lautoka.

The Nadi Weather Office says although water levels have receded in many areas, strong wind warnings and flood warnings remain in force for much of the main island of Viti Levu.

The office predicts heavy rain and strong winds across Fiji from tonight.

Meanwhile as economic losses mount, military coup leader and self appointed prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama launched an international appeal for money to be paid into a bank account he controls.

New Zealand, which yesterday gave $100,000, is giving its aid through the independent Fiji Red Cross.

Commodore Bainimarama yesterday appealed for funds worldwide and cited his "National Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation" account as the place to deposit it.

"Commodore Bainimarama said any amount could be deposited and all contributions would be acknowledged," the government statement said.

"The funds collected will supplement Government's contribution under the National Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Programme."

New Zealand and most regional governments refuse to recognise the Bainimarama regime which seized power in a military coup in December 2006.

Fiji's sugar crop, the third major export income earner behind tourism and international mercenary and security work, is believed to have suffered severely with the storm as much of the crop was waterlogged.

Hundreds of New Zealand tourists remain stuck in tourist resorts.

Keen golfers Stu Pedley and Murray Kuzman from Wanganui said their evacuation from Fiji's flood-struck Denarau Island at the weekend was like a "mini Dunkirk".

Since the floods started last week at least eight people have been killed and 9000 forced from their homes.

Mr Pedley told The Wanganui Chronicle that they had been taken off Denarau by catamaran around to Nadi Airport.

"There was no way anyone could get through on the road, even in a four-wheel-drive truck."

The island resort, mostly built on reclaimed land, was under two metres of water.

"It was a huge brown sea of water. The canal had broken its banks, the bridge was gone," Mr Kuzman said.

Overnight on Wednesday, the rain started, and it fell solidly without a stop for two and a-half days.

The heavy rain flooded the roads and there was no way local staff could get to work in the hotels and resorts.

The men said Nadi Airport was chaotic, with thousands of tourists trying to arrange flights out of Fiji.

Only when in the air did they both fully realise the enormity of the devastation.

But despite everything the Fijian people kept smiling, Mr Pedley said.

"They just smiled through it all. They said the rain will stop," he said.

The Fiji government has declared a state of emergency in the western districts that were the hardest hit and are also home to most of the country's international resorts.

Tourists still at resorts were advised by the National Disaster Office to hunker down in preparation for more rough weather.

"There's another depression heading toward Fiji within the next two days and that will bring an additional threat," Aisea Qumihajelo, the acting chief of disaster management, told Associated Press.

- with NZPA