11 Oct 2016

Heavy rain brings more misery for Fiji

6:47 am on 11 October 2016

The Red Cross in Fiji says continuing heavy rain could inflict further suffering on those made homeless by Cyclone Winston in February.

Fiji's met service said the trough which had brought heavy rain over the last day was moving east towards Tonga but another cloud band was moving towards Fiji.

A flood alert put in place yesterday afternoon for the whole of the country was lifted early this morning.

The country is in repair mode since Cyclone Winston damaged or destroyed more than 31,000 houses, affecting about 40 percent of the population.

The Director General of the Red Cross in Fiji, Filipe Nainoca, said most of those people were still living in tents and temporary shelters.

"Around 80 percent of people who were affected are still in the process of building permanent shelters. They are still living in their temporary shelters.

"The rain all over Fiji like we are experiencing now will make their lives miserable."

Filipe Nainoca said the Red Cross was still assessing the needs of people affected by the weather, but the agency is likely to help with things like dry clothes and tarpaulins.