ReliefWeb

Situation Overview

At 5:00pm Severe Tropical Cyclone Donna (Cat 3) was located 90 KM northwest of Torres and 230 KM northwest of Gaua. Very destructive winds and very rough to phenomenal seas with heavy swells will affect TORBA, SANMA and MALAMPA. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding is also expected over TORBA, SANMA, PENAMA and MALAMPA especially over low lying areas and areas close to river banks. Coastal flooding is also expected. At the time of publishing the NDMO Red Alert is now current for TORBA province, Yellow Alert is now current for SANMA and MALAMPA province.

Preliminary Impact

The NDMO is communicating widely with Provincial authorities, partner agencies and local communities to establish a preliminary understanding of the extent and type of impacts. All information is subject to update and change as the situation evolves and assessments are undertaken.

Torba Province is the main affected area so far and has experienced destructive winds and flash flooding. Limited communications are inhibiting the collection of information and the understanding of the situation is incomplete at this time. Contact with provincial authorities in the Banks Group of islands is reporting damage to schools, churches and households from destructive winds. Evacuation centres have been activated. No communication has been made to the Torres group of islands, which are expected to be the most affected. TVL phone network is down in Torba and contact on Digicel is isolated.

Countrywide disruptions to domestic and international flights are ongoing due to weather.

General Coordination

The National Disaster Management Office is coordinating the response and the National Emergency Operations Centre remains operational. The National Disaster Committee met at 2pm on the 5th of May. International partners including UN agencies, FRANZ partners, SPC and INGOs continue to be in contact with NDMO to offer assistance. The cluster system remains active and clusters are preparing contingency and response plans. Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department continues to provide regular forecast updates.
Partner agencies including Government Departments, NGOs, faith based groups and the Red Cross network continue to support the National Disaster Management Office in information gathering and contingency planning.