2 Jan 2016

Fiji's Lau group prepares for Cyclone Ula

7:52 pm on 2 January 2016

Authorities in Fiji say Cyclone Ula could adversely affect about 5000 people living in the Eastern Districts.

The storm, which earlier passed through the northern part of Tonga, is expected to pass through Lau island group by early morning or by Sunday afternoon at the latest.

Ula is packing winds of 150 kilometres an hour which are gusting up to 205 kilometres an hour.

Disaster Management Planner for the Eastern Division, Eliki Masa, says people in the area have been warned to prepare for the cyclone.

Ono-I-Lau in Fiji's south east corner.

Ono-I-Lau which could bear the brunt of Cyclone Ula on Sunday Photo: wikicommons

Mr Masa says people living in low-lying areas have been advised to seek higher ground.

He says people should be prepared for anything.

"Do the needful things, prepare the food and all the necessities and look for the good structured building that they could go and shelter if the wind, the destructive winds, come to them."

Mr Masa says he is hopeful Ula will lose intensity by the time it passes through Fiji's southeastern islands.

Tonga's Vava'u island group suffered minimal damage when the then category 3 storm passed to the north.

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