Fijian authorities are working hard to make contact with remote southern islands after powerful Cyclone Gita took down communications.
Radio NZ reported that there were no doctors on the islands of Vatoa and Ono-i-Lau, where the Fiji Meteorological Service had forecast average wind speeds of 195 km per hour, with gusts of up to 275 km per hour overnight.
Gita has already caused extensive damage in Samoa and Tonga with forecast tracking by Tropical Storm Risk predicting that the Category 4 cyclone was moving westwards and then heading south just avoiding New Caledonia.