3 Apr 2012

Three year old boy latest victim of Fiji floods

8:26 am on 3 April 2012

Officials in Fiji say a tropical cyclone passing by the battered island nation has not yet produced any more severe weather.

Five people have died, another three are missing, and about eight thousand people have been forced into evacuation centres following heavy rain which started on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Information, Sharon Smith-Johns, says the latest victim is a child.

"A three year old boy drowned in a creek today, later this afternoon. We continue to warn the general public about the feed of the rivers here. And it's such an unfortunate death of an infant."

Sharon Smith-Johns says there are light winds in Nadi at the moment as Cyclone Daphne passes about 500 kilometres south-west of the country.

But predicted rains and stronger winds have not yet arrived.