The newly formed tropical cyclone Daman is passing over the Fiji dependency of Rotuma.
At 7pm Fiji time, Daman was lying about 50 kilometres east from Rotuma where a gale warning remains in force
The cyclone is moving towards the southwest at 20 kilometres an hours, with winds at its centre at around 70 kilometres per hour.
Rajendra Prasad of the Fiji Met Service says the tropical cyclone should pass over Rotuma over a period of 6 hours.
"And after that the cyclone centre should start to move away from Rotuma and then the sustem would curve towards Fiji and perhaps approach us late tomorrow and it might take a bit of time for it to actually pass over Fiji. What form it takes is hard to say at the moment. The cyclone's intensity is expected to peak in the next 12 to 24 hours and it should start to weaken as it approaches Fiji. We'll be placing Fiji on a tropical cyclone alert tonight and will be monitoring things as they come."
