Tropical Cyclone Cook has torn through New Caledonia overnight, bringing wind gusts of up to 180 kilometres per hour and leaving around 20,000 people without power.
Visible infrared satellite animation of Cyclone Cook spanning 1:30-4:00 UTC time on the 10th of April 2017. Photo: NOAA - Satellite Image
The category three cyclone is now offshore and headed towards New Zealand, but the system is weakening and it should be downgraded within the next 24 hours.
Around 350 millimetres of rainfall was recorded on the west coast of the French Pacific territory.
Cameron Diver, the Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Community, is based in the capital Noumea and says Cyclone Cook has now moved off but in its wake four people have been left injured and there are still power outages across the island.
