Death toll rises as Fiji cleans up after cyclone

Fiji began a massive clean-up on Sunday after the most powerful cyclone in the Pacific nation's history left a trail of destruction, killing six people, flattening scores of homes and crippling infrastructure.

The super-storm lashed the popular tourist destination overnight Saturday, packing wind gusts of 325 kilometres (202 miles) per hour, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. OCHA said six people were killed during severe tropical cyclone Winston, the first-ever storm system to hit Fiji measuring a maximum category five. 

"Homes have been destroyed, many low-lying areas have flooded," Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said earlier Sunday in a statement. "In the aftermath of this great tragedy, many are without power and full access to water, and are cut off from communication."

Officials said one man died on Koro Island, reportedly from debris sent flying during the cyclone. Others died on Ovalau island and in Tailevu and Ra provinces, National Disaster Management Office director Akapusi Tuifagalele told Fiji One News.

Five others were injured, Tuifagalele added. OCHA said 150 houses were destroyed and 60 others damaged in the Eastern Division covering the provinces of Kadavu, Lau, Lomaiviti and Rotuma. It gave no figures for the country's three other divisions.

Aid agencies admitted they simply had no idea about the full extent of the destruction, as Fijians shared pictures on social media of roofless houses, flooded streets and metal signposts bent over by the wild winds.

Save the Children Fiji chief Iris Low-McKenzie said it was too early to assess the impact on outlying islands, although unconfirmed reports said thousands of homes had been destroyed and entire villages flattened.

"I'm especially concerned about the remote communities in outlying areas that we haven't been able to contact yet," she said. "Until communications are re-established and we assess the damage, we won't know the full extent of the situation." The capital Suva escaped the full fury of the storm but Low-McKenzie said it was still a terrifying experience.

"I've never experienced anything like this," she said. "The noise was frightening as roofs were blown off homes and trees were ripped out by their roots." Bainimarama said the storm amounted to an "assault on Fiji", an impoverished nation of about 900,000 heavily reliant on its tourism industry. "It is being described as one of the most powerful in recorded history... as a nation, we are facing an ordeal of the most grievous kind," he said in a national address late Saturday.