Cyclone Winston has intensified to a strong category 5 with sustained winds of 175 mph or greater (150 to 160 knots) as it approaches Fiji. People living in small shanties don’t stand a chance if they haven’t evacuated to shelters. This is by far the strongest storm on record ever to hit the Fijian islands. When Iniki hit Kauai it left destruction on the shoreline that took ten years to clean up but Winston is much stronger than Iniki and Fiji is much poorer. The beautiful, but impoverished people of Fiji are facing utter ruin. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicts Winston will hit the island of Viti Levu home to 600 thousand residents and Fiji’s capital city Suva with it’s leading edge with winds of 185 miles per hour. I'm shocked. The people of Fiji had no way to prepare for this. There is no precedent for it.
The latest forecast from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center had the storm moving due west, with landfall on Viti Levu late on February 20 or early on February 21. The island is home to more than 600,000 people and the national capital, Suva. The storm track from the east to west is unusual, according to Brian Kahn of WXshift/Climate Central. Nearly all cyclones in recent records have approached Fiji from the west.
I’m sorry that DK has poor graphic resolution for this figure. Click here http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc-bin/tc_home2.cgi for better track and satellite images of Winston.
Winston is forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to hit Fiji’s most populous island with 185 mph sustained winds (160 knots)Winston is near the top end of cat 5 on the Navy’s satellite image color scale.
My heart goes out to all the people of Fiji in their time of need. They will need our help.
