One person is reported dead and 30 students escaped death when a landslide crashed into the walls of their hostel as Tropical Cyclone Cliff lashed eastern Fiji.
The Fiji Times reports that a 30-year old woman, Suman Lata, was swept away as she, her husband and three children were trying to cross a flooded river at Nawaicoba near Nadi in the west.
In the North, 30 students at a primary school escaped death when a landslide crashed into the walls of their hostel near Udu Point at the eastern extremity of the island of Vanua Levu.
This morning Cyclone Cliff was centered close to the island of Lakeba in the eastern Lau Group where flooding and strong winds were reported.
Some damage to buildings, roads and food gardens was reported from Taveuni and eastern Vanua Levu last night but details were sketchy with communications to many remote areas still cut off.
About 30 people on Taveuni have taken shelter in evacuation centres while people living in coastal areas of other islands have moved to higher ground.
At last reports Cyclone Cliff was picking up speed with winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour as it approached islands in the Southern Lau Group.
This is the third time this year that flooding has hit Fiji's north where more than 20 deaths were reported earlier.
