Cyclone Tuni caused flooding, landslips and damage to roads and bridges in Samoa. Photo: Sarah Postlewait
A New Zealand volunteer group caught up in Cyclone Tuni in Samoa say they managed to finish their work project despite the damage.
Francesca Mills from the Auckland-based DRIVE programme says the project was suspended when the winds picked up speed.
She says the group was painting the roof of the pre-school building in Poutasi, on the south coast of the country's main island of Upolu.
The Auckland-based DRIVE volunteers were working on the pre-school roof in Poutasi village when Cyclone Tuni hit. Photo: Sarah Postlewait
Ms Mills says the group returned to Apia to find their windows smashed and roads flooded, but emergency workers were quick to clean up the damage.
"Once we came back after the cyclone there were tons of branches that had come off the trees that we had to have like three girls take the branches off at once. Tons of trees had fallen. We did pass one tree where it smashed into a power pole and the power pole fell down. We had a bit of a clean up for about two hours before we could begin on the roof again."
Francesca Mills says it was frightening to imagine the damage that could have happened with something stronger than Cyclone Tuni's category one ranking.
