3 Mar 2005

Cyclone Percy maintains strength and moving south

9:14 am on 3 March 2005

Latest reports from Fiji's weather office say tropical cyclone Percy is maintaining its intensity as it approaches Palmerston atoll in the southern Cook Islands.

It contains winds of around 230 kilometres an hour near its centre with gusts up to 315 kilometres an hour.

The Fiji met service predicts it will travel southwards before curving southeast later

It says Percy should be past Palmerston by about lunchtime today.