Cyclone Yasa: Powerful storm on its way to Fiji with hurricane force

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Tropical cyclone Yasa has grown rapidly over the past 24 hours from a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale to a high-end Category 4. Wind has increased from 130 kilometers per hour to 250 km / h (80-155 miles per hour) and the storm is just shy of Category 5 strength.

On the scale used by Australia, Fiji and other South Pacific countries, which is slightly lower than Saffir-Simpson, Yasa is already classified as a Category 5.

Yasa may strengthen more over the next 12 hours, before weakening slightly as it approaches Fiji in about 36 hours. Still, the storm is still expected to be extremely strong when it hits land on Thursday evening local time (Thursday morning ET).

In addition to wind speeds of more than 200 km / h, the storm will also bring more than 250 mm of rainfall, which can lead to flooding and landslides. The extreme intensity of the storm will lead to very rough seas and a storm surge that can flood low-lying coastal communities.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale can be expected to cause “catastrophic damage.”

The scale estimates potential property damage, and NOAA warns that even well-built homes can suffer “severe damage” from wind speeds in excess of 200km / h, while trees and utility poles can be brought down, causing more destruction and disruption .

Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that “every Fijian must now prepare for heavy rains, damaging winds, coastal floods and floods across the country.”
“I urge communities to use this time to take steps to keep your homes and communities safe,” said Bainimarama in a national address, a message echoed by the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development of the United States. country, that said on Twitter “we can’t stress this enough – THE TIME TO PREPARE IS NOW.”

While Yasa enters Fiji, another tropical cyclone, Zazu, has passed just north of Tonga, but has had little to no impact on the islands.

Zazu equates to a strong tropical storm with wind speeds of 100 km / h (62 mph). There are no additional landmasses in its path and the storm is expected to dissipate in the next days or two.

Strong cyclones have become increasingly common in the Pacific in recent years, something Bainimarama has attributed to climate change, writing earlier this year that global warming was the cause of growing wildfires in Australia and heavier storms in Australia. Pacific.

With every additional degree of average global warming, the scale and frequency of wildfires will increase exponentially, as will the intensity of heat-powered tropical cyclones, ”Bainimarama said.

In April, Tropical Cyclone Harold hit both Fiji and Vanuatu, which corresponds to a Category 5 hurricane and particularly devastated Vanuatu, where it was one of the strongest recorded storms to ever make landfall.

CNN’s James Griffiths contributed from Hong Kong.

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