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Cyclone Tomas is heading straight for Fiji but its arrival could further extend into Monday as weather maps show a drop in wind speed and momentum.
Still a category 2 storm, Tomas is now expected to slice through the middle of Vanua Levu midday Monday at winds averaging 160kmph.
Major towns of Labasa and Savusavu are directly in its path as the storm takes a south westerly route in to the Fiji group.
Earlier predictions had shown the storm at Category 4 status when it touched Fiji midnight Sunday.
Fiji national emergency services have been conducting meetings around the clock creating awareness and issuing warnings to the public.
The weather office say rain is expected Sunday for the North and Eastern divisions, including Suva, where excessive flooding is likely to occur.
National Disaster Management officials at a media briefing Saturday said “the nation should prepare for the worst” as they identified Tomas with Hurricane Bebe.
Bebe struck Fiji in late November early December, 1972 claiming over 180 lives and damaging national infrastructure to an extent financial assistance had to be sought from the United Kingdom, Fiji’s former colonial masters.
Fiji has escaped two tsunamis this el-Niño season but was struck by a category 2 cyclone Mick last December which claimed four lives and damages amounting $20 million.
