Cyclone Yasa: powerful storm towards Fiji with hurricane winds

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Tropical Cyclone Yasa has strengthened rapidly in the past 24 hours, from a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale to a high-end category 4. Winds have increased by 130 kilometers per year. hour at 250 km / h (80-155 miles per hour) and the storm is timid with the strength of category 5.

On the scale used by Australia, Fiji and other South Pacific countries, which is slightly lower than Saffir-Simpson, Yasa is already classified as category 5.

Yasa may strengthen further over the next 12 hours, before weakening slightly as it approaches Fiji in about 36 hours. Still, the storm is expected to be extremely strong when it hits the country on Thursday night (Thursday morning ET).

In addition to winds of more than 200 km / h (125 mph), the storm will also cause rainfall of more than 250 mm (10 inches), which can cause flooding and landslides. The extreme intensity of the storm will cause a very rough sea and a storm surge capable of flooding low coastal communities.

According to the U.S. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale can be expected to cause “catastrophic damage.”

The scale calculates possible property damage and NOAA warns that even well-built homes can suffer “severe damage” as a result of winds in excess of 200 km / h, while trees and electric poles could be torn down. causing more destruction and disruption.

The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama dit that “every Fijian should now prepare for heavy rains, harmful winds, coastal floods and floods across the country.”
“I urge communities to use this time to take steps to keep your homes and communities safe,” Bainimarama said in a national speech, a message that was reiterated by the country’s Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development, which he said on Twitter “We can’t insist enough: THE TIME TO PREPARE IS NOW.”

As Yasa falls on Fiji, another tropical cyclone, Zazu, has just passed northern Tonga, but caused little or no impact on the islands.

Zazu is equivalent to a strong tropical storm with winds of 100 km / h (62 mph). There are no additional land masses in its path and the storm is expected to dissipate over the next day or two.

Strong cyclones have become increasingly common in the Pacific in recent years, which Bainimarama has highlighted climate change, writing earlier this year that global warming was the cause of the worsening of the forest fires in Australia and stronger storms in the Pacific.

With each additional degree of average global warming, the scale and frequency of forest fires will increase exponentially, as will the intensity of heat-driven tropical cyclones, ”Bainimarama said.

In April, Fiji and Vanuatu were hit by Tropical Cyclone Harold, which was equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane and caused massive destruction in Vanuatu in particular, where it was one of the strongest storms recorded to date.

CNN’s James Griffiths helped report from Hong Kong.

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