Alert #10 / 06 January 2004, Sydney 19:00 EDT
Situation in Niue
The eyewall of Category 4 Cyclone Heta has passed directly over Niue in the last 2 hours. See the attached JTWC Satellite Image showing the centre of the eye just to the south of the island just after it passed over. Communications with Niue have been cut and power went down a few hours ago. However the forward speed of the storm is now over 30 km/h, so the storm will move out of the area fairly rapidly. Damage to crops, power lines, and dwellings is likely to be severe. In 5-10 hours, the bulk of the storm will have passed to the southeast just below the Cook Islands. It is planned that the New Zealand Government will send an assessment team to Niue first thing tomorrow. The storm will cause large sea swell in the Cooks, but will pass far enough to the south to limit any damage.
More detailed information about the storm can be found on
- https://metoc.npmoc.navy.mil//jtwc.html
- http://www.met.gov.fj/advisories.html
- http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
- http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=8041
Kevin Vang
APCEDI Coordinator
APCEDI is a service of the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP) in Sydney, Australia and the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI) in Suva, Fiji. It is used primarily for internal FSP information to provide information about effected areas with development projects in the AFAP, FSPI network in the Asia Pacific Region.