Fiji is coming to terms with the level of destruction left in the wake of Cyclone Winston which cut a swathe through the islands overnight, reportedly killing five people, destroying homes and cutting essential services.
While the death toll had for much of the daystood at one, Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has this afternoon said Winston claimed five lives.
Evacuation centres have been set up and relief teams have been mobilised from New Zealand to help the island nation recover from the furious category 5 storm and to help authorities assess the extent of the damage.
As the strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall in Fiji moved over the country, Cayla Tikaram hid with her family in a cupboard with a mattress, praying and crying as the storm ripped the roof off her house, flooded it, crushed the walls and ripped the shutters off the windows. Debris flew through the air around them.
And as the storm bore down, the pastry chef at a resort in Rakiraki, in northern Viti Levu, tweeted throughout.
"The house is leaking and everyone's crying. Planning where to hide when the entire roof comes off."
Once the eye of Cyclone Winston had passed, the family emerged from their hiding spot and started to assess the extent of the damage.
"Can't even begin to comprehend how we survived. Every room of the house is shredded to bits," Ms Tikaram tweeted.
On Koro Island, a man was killed when his house collapsed under pressure from winds which reached a mean speed of 110km/h.
The Herald has been told the man will be buried today because there is no morgue on the island.
Meanwhile, according to the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, 1066 people remain sheltering at 35 evacuation centres across Vanua Levu. Food rations are about to be distributed.
Officials are telling people to stay indoors because of damage to the power network, and live wires lying in the streets.
All schools in the country will go on a break for one week from tomorrow. Education Minister Mahendra Reddy said the break would allow parents and students to recover from the cyclone.
"(It will also allow) the management ... to do the clean-up and prepare the school.
"We will also ensure that we don't lose any teaching time so the term one break that is supposed to be for two weeks will now be for one week because we are pulling one week from next week that is tomorrow," he said.
UNICEF worker Alice Clements -- who is staying in Suva -- said she wouldn't wish a category 5 cyclone on her worst enemy.
Speaking to AAP from her sturdy home on Saturday evening, Ms Clements described a dystopian scene of downed banana trees, howling winds and the "ominous" sounds of corrugated iron lifting on some of the roofs.
An emergency fund of $50,000 has been opened up by the Government and an Orion plane has flown to Fiji to assess the damage.
The money has been made available immediately through the High Commission in Fiji for any urgent requests from the Fiji Government.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully has also authorised the release of up to $170,000 in relief supplies held on the island by groups such as Unicef and Rotary. Further help would be decided in coming days once the scale of the support needed was known.
"New Zealand stands ready to assist the people of Fiji as they deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Winston and we are in close contact with the Government of Fiji. It is clear that further support will be required and we will be working with the local authorities over the coming days to determine how we can best assist."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there had so far been no reports of New Zealanders injured in the cyclone and New Zealanders concerned about friends and family in Fiji should attempt to make contact directly in the first instance. However, communication lines were down in many parts of Fiji. Those with ongoing concerns should call the ministry.
Habitat for Humanity International has a staff team of disaster response experts currently providing direct support to Fiji.
"The same people that served in Nepal last year after the April earthquake are now focused on Winston and the critical need for a shelter response in the Pacific," said Claire Szabo, chief executive of Habitat for Humanity New Zealand.
"It's easy to feel hopeless when you are far away, and you're just watching the weather reports with horror. But our team has come together this weekend to ensure that New Zealanders hear about the shelter needs of people in this cyclone, and have a chance to show support."
Winston reaches gusts of 285km/h
MetService New Zealand meteorologist Emma Blades said the tiny western island of Viwa was the latest to feel the category 5 cyclone's force, but Winston was 175km west of Viwa at 10am (NZT).
The cyclone was moving about 22 kilometres an hour, and still packing a punch with average wind speeds of 205km/h and gusts of 285km/h.
Viwa, which is home to a resort, was still subject to a weather warning that included heavy rain, squally thunderstorms, damaging swells and flooding. The phone line was not working when the Herald called the island's resort.
Although Winston had passed, there would continue to be strong winds throughout Fiji, Ms Blades said.
"That will ease through the day."
Worst affected in the main islands were the top of Viti Levu and the bottom of Vanua Levu. In the latter a mean wind speed of 194km/h was recorded, but it would have been gusting much higher, Ms Blades said.
"The eye passed really close to them."
Nadi, where the international airport is located on Viti Levu's western coast, recorded mean wind speeds of 80km/h and gusts up to 130km/h, she said.
Weather Watch said there was a moderate risk New Zealand's North Island would receive the remnants of Winston at the end of the week.
Kiwis hunker down
As of this morning 186 New Zealanders had registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as being in Fiji.
Kiwi mum Melinda Dent, holidaying in Fiji with her husband, two children and mother-in-law, described her cyclone experience as "terrifying". She feared her feet would be taken "out from under me" when she evacuated from her hotel room to the Sheraton's ballroom last night.
"The wind wasn't gusty, just constant, full force wind and so incredibly noisy. When I felt like the windows must be about to blow in we were advised that an evacuation crew was coming around.
"At the storm's peak we were taken under covered walkways to the hotel's ballroom with all the other guests. The walk there was very scary -- horizontal rain and wind that felt like it was going to take my feet out from under me."
The family stayed in the ballroom till about 2am, before returning to their room. It was flooded, but the beds were dry, she said.
NZME account director Ben Rose spent the night sheltered in a board room at the Sofitel on Denarau Island. He and about 350 others, including a wedding party forced to shut down by the hotel manager, and babies and their mums, spent the night on the second floor room as the wind howled and rain lashed the island, less than 10 kilometres from Nadi.
Between 11pm last night and 1am this morning was the worst, Mr Rose, 38, said.
"You could feel the pressure of it outside. They were screwing batons across the doors outside. You could hear the wind and the rain ... from 11pm it was going non-stop, it was absolutely torrential. About 5.30am the general manager said 'we've managed to make it through the night'."
Flights suspended
Flights in and out of Fiji continue to be affected by the cyclone.
Air New Zealand has cancelled all flights to or from the country today. It had two flights from Auckland to Nadi and two from Nadi to Auckland scheduled.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and update accordingly," the airline said on its website.
Fiji Airways said on its website that it had cancelled all its flights scheduled for today and tomorrow.
A Qantas spokeswoman said its services yesterday and today had been cancelled. The situation would be reviewed again tomorrow.
Virgin Australia and Jetstar have also suspended flights in and out of the country.
