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More than 80 percent of Fiji is without electricity following damaging gale force winds inflicted by Cyclone Mick over most of the group in the past 24 hours.
Fiji Electricity Authority chief executive officer Hasmukh Patel said an assessment is being carried out to determine the exact extent of damage caused by Cyclone Mick.
“We’re currently working on the ground trying to find out the damage caused by the cyclone. We can not estimate the total cost until our assessment is done,” Patel told FijiLive.
“More than 80 percent of the country is without power supply, we had to shut down the Wailoa hydro station because of the rising water level in Wailoa.”
He said power supply would be restored after maintenance work is carried out by the FEA but would not say how long the process would take.
Patel warned the public to be wary of broken power lines.
“We’re asking the public to be careful and to report all broken lines to authorities.”
The loss of electricity and water supply has left Suva and urban centres in the Western Division such as Nadi and Lautoka deserted today.
Morris Hedstrom’s flagship store, Morris Hedstrom City Complex (MHCC) in Suva is closed because there is no water, said MH general manager Kuna Selan.
Selan said staff and tenants were at the complex and they would open “as soon as there is some assurance that water supply will be back to normal”.
He said the group had been able to open 18 stores around the country because they had both water and electricity at these centres.
