Fiji

At 6 am local time this morning it was about 760 km west northwest of Nadi and was starting to move east southeast about seven to 10 km an hour.

A lead forecaster at the office said the Category 1 storm was expected to become a Category 2 in the next 24 hours and there was a good chance the level could be raised to Category 3.

All schools in Fiji are closed for at least the next two days but are being made available as evacuation centres.

Last weekend Cyclone Josie killed six people and caused extensive damage.

Fiji police have confirmed that a man was swept away by strong currents and another man is still missing as flood waters begin to rise again a week after Cyclone Josie.

Heavy rain, widespread flooding, and damaging winds are expected over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Director National Disaster Management Office Anare Leweniqila said the weather system has a high potential of developing into a category one cyclone.

Four people died and one person is still missing after the cyclone brought severe weather to Fiji as a Category 1 storm over the weekend.

The western half of the main island Viti Levu was worst hit by widespread flooding.

The Fiji Red Cross has been busy giving out aid like dignity kits, hygiene packs, jerry cans, and solar lights to those worst affected

People are still taking shelter in evacuation centres.

Nadi houses the most evacuees, with 471 people making use of eight evacuation centres in the town.

Strong winds and heavy rain associated with the category one Cyclone Josie caused the major flooding in parts of the country.

Fiji police retrieved four bodies over the weekend but one person who was washed away in the floods is still missing.

The Fiji government said all schools in the Ba, Rakiraki, Tavua, and Nadi areas would be closed for two days while officials carry out full damage assessments.

Clean-up efforts were underway in the worst affected areas.

The Fiji Met Service says Tropical Cyclone Josie is moving 25 kph East-South East, away from the Fiji group.

It says the category one cyclone is expected to have average winds of up to 75kph with momentary gusts upto to 100 kph.

A gale warning remains in force the Yasawa and Mamanuca group, Viti Levu, Kadavu, Lau and Lomaiviti group, and nearby smaller islands.

A strong wind warning remains in force for the rest of the Fiji.

A heavy rain warning remains in force for the whole of the Fiji group.

Speaking in the Solomons parliament Monday, Manasseh Sogavare said Fiji should apologise for bringing Indonesia into the MSG.  

He said Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama breached MSG procedure by forcing the other four full members to accept Indonesia as part of the sub-regional grouping, whose full members are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and FLNKS Kanaks movement of New Caledonia.  

Indonesia was admitted to the MSG with observer status in 2011 after Bainimarama assumed the MSG's rotational chairmanship.  

The tender process ended this week and FRU CEO, John O'Connor says the Union complied with the bid requirements and submitted their bid to World Rugby prior to the deadline.

O'Connor said the FRU together with the Fiji Rugby Bid team, led by Brian Thorburn and Greg Peters, were confident they had submitted a credible and strong bid which ticked all the criteria boxes in all the categories as set out by World Rugby.

The FRU will make public the details of its submission at the Fiji Rugby Awards Dinner on March 9.

The plane belonging to Pacific Flying School went missing on Monday afternoon while on a training exercise.

The wreckage and bodies were found Wednesday afternoon in rugged terrain near Delaikoro Mountain not far from Labasa Airport.

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rusiate Tudravu says the efforts currently being coordinated through the Search and Rescue Command Centre will now focus on securing the crash site for the arrival of the appointed New Zealand‑based Air Accident Investigator.

The Cessna 172 from the Pacific Flying School was carrying a flight instructor and a student pilot when it disappeared.

Lieutenant Sairusi Colati from the Fiji Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the search, which included soldiers and police, was continuing southwest of Labasa.

He said airborne and ground searchers were being used with their attention now focussed by information from villagers near Mt Delaikoro in the middle of Vanua Levu.

Cyclone Gita was earlier upgraded to a category five - the highest possible.

The office's director, Anare Leweniqila, said damage assessments were on-going, but so far there were no reports of casualties or injuries on Ono-i-Lau.

"We have only received reports of three completely destroyed houses and we are just working around trying to ascertain the nature of these structures."

Mr Leweniqila said it was unclear if the homes were Fijian bures, made of corrugated iron or wood.