A typhoon formation alert has been lifted for the Marshall Islands, but the country's main atoll of Majuro is still counting the cost of damage done by rough seas and high winds.
A Marshall Islands business is buffeted by high waves. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson
On Friday, a tropical depression kicked up high winds and surf battered shores around the atoll, with fishing vessels and yachts breaking off moorings and slamming into shore.
On land, winds blew off roofs, knocked down trees and caused power outages.
The storm in Majuro has blown yachts moored in the usually placid lagoon onto the shore. Photo: RNZI / Giff Johnson
Our correspondent on the Marshall Islands, Giff Johnson, says there is an extensive and expensive cleanup ahead.
"People who fish and run boats here are saying it's the worst westerly that they've seen ever to hit the lagoon. It was just a cauldron of high winds and waves, and lots of boats broke loose from their moorings and up on the beach or on to reefs, and heavy damage along the shoreline from waves. The thing about it is this was a very unseasonal storm to hit."
Giff Johnson says the out-of-season storm was incredibly ferocious for the time year.
