Tourists flee as heavy floods hit Fiji

Australia will provide whatever assistance is needed to Fiji after devastating floods, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said yesterday.

Australia will provide whatever assistance is needed to Fiji after devastating floods, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said yesterday.

A state of natural disaster was declared for western Fiji following flooding in which at least three people have died and 4000 have been forced into evacuation centres.

Power was cut on the main island of Viti Levu. Incoming flights to Nadi were stopped last night and scheduled flights out of Nadi to Auckland, Melbourne and Honolulu cancelled. An empty Air New Zealand plane to fly out stranded passengers had to turn back due to bad weather.

”Australians travelling to Fiji ought to be aware of the restrictions,” Mr Carr said. ”We’re not aware at this stage of Australians who have been injured or whose safety is seriously at risk.”

Resorts are running out of food and locals in surrounding areas have been urged to boil rainwater, which was continuing to pour last night.

At Nadi Airport, frantic people crowded around equally frantic staff. Others lay on makeshift mattresses. Many had been stranded for several days.

Ann Wilson and her three grandchildren had to be flown by helicopter from a golf course after being stranded along with hundreds of other tourists, including many Australians.

They were forced to move from the Westin Hotel to the Sheraton as a result of the flooding, then she scrambled with other tourists to be selected for the helicopter, waiting 3ยฝ hours before flying out of one of many danger zones.

”People were getting mad, saying they were elderly or they had a baby,” Ms Wilson said. ”It felt like the Titanic.”

She said she tried to explain to her daughter-in-law what conditions were like, but she would not listen. ”She said to me ‘I wish I could be stranded in Fiji’,” said Ms Wilson, who had been staying in Denarau. ”She doesn’t understand. She could have been wading in sewage.”

An NRL delegation in Fiji to promote rugby league was also affected. The retired stars Adam MacDougall, Rhys Wesser and Matt Cross had been due to leave Suva yesterday, but because flights were affected they spent hours at the airport signing autographs and posing for photos.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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