Fiji shopkeepers clean up after yet more flooding in the main tourist town, Nadi.
Transcript
Shopkeepers are mopping up in the Fijian town of Nadi after a huge deluge of rain this week.
The busy tourist and business centre was inundated with water metres high racing down the main street and flooding shops.
RNZ International's Sally Round was there for the clean up.
It's a messy and exhausting job for shop manager Kishore Lal Raniga and his workers.
KISHORE LAL RANIGA: It was heaps of mud, dirt and all other things inside it was really muddy.
SALLY ROUND: Did you manage to save your stock?
KISHORE LAL RANIGA: As much as we could we saved it and the rest it was in the water.
Two tropical depressions followed closely by Cyclone Zena on top of the devastating cyclone Winston have hit the western part of Fiji hard.
KISHORE LAL RANIGA: Business is quite bad because of Winston it really you know put us in the soup. And the whole country is under pressure you know.
Mr Raniga is also under pressure to open as quickly as possible to get back to making money for his boss, but he and the workers are tired. They've had their own clean ups at home to deal with. Kamal Gounder who's helping next door says the water went up, then down then rose again in the space of a few days this week.
KAMAL GOUNDER: We were actually not ready for this two days of flooding because it came down one day and then the next day it came back again you can see the faces so tired.
RAVIND DEVIA: I am closing up for the day because we have been cleaning up since morning bringing things down setting up and we will continue tomorrow.
Ravind Devia says he's seen worse. In 2012, floods went as high as the second floor of his stationery shop.There's been talk about whether Nadi should be relocated.
RAVIND DEVIA: I don't believe that, town is in the right place but there needs to be a lot of development on the water ways. Authorities are doing it but it is the peoples habits as well throwing things.
The storekeepers are counting their losses including Ravikesh Reddy who's further north in the city of Lautoka even though the shop is busy after this week's bad weather. But it hasn't been all bad.
RAVIKESH REDDY: What has happened in the past few days is that many of our customers and other individuals have lost their personal belongings for example their beds furnitures mattresses and electrical items.
The extra cash pension holders have been allowed out as cyclone assistance from the national pension agency, the Fiji National Provident Fund is a boost for turnover. But Mr Reddy says the cyclones and recent deluges have on the whole set business back by up to ten years and he predicts a huge loss for the firm this year.
RAVIKESH REDDY: The other main problem is our staffs as well they are not able to come down and operate fully. We are not operating to the maximum since our staffs are also affected by the cyclone. We need more time to recuperate.
Mr Reddy says it'll be next year before things are on the path to normality. In Fiji for MR Sally Round
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