17 Feb 2005

American Samoa waiting till tomorrow before sending cyclone damage assessment team to Manu'a

9:33 pm on 17 February 2005

The American Samoa Emergency Operation centre says they will not be able to determine the extent of the damage caused by Cyclone Olaf on the eastern Manu'a islands until tomorrow.

Jeff Basa at the Centre says the preliminary information is there were no injuries but there are power outages, a water shortage and some damage.

"But the fact that the assessment team cannot get there yet, based on the storm just passing, the clean up of the airfield and co-ordination of air travel, no one has actually been able to reach that island yet, but the communication we have had is that there is some structural damage to some buildings and homes, but the extent of that is not yet known."