No Pinoys hurt in Fiji storm –consul

No Filipinos were hurt when a powerful storm ripped through Fiji late Saturday, flattening remote villages and cutting off communications.
According to Honorary Consul General Dr. Virgilio de Asa, tropical cyclone Winston did not pass through Suva and other urban areas where there are Filipino communities.
He said the small islands were the areas severely affected by the storm, and that the worse they experienced was heavy rain with strong winds that toppled electric posts.
There are an estimated 300 Filipinos in Fiji working as doctors, civil engineers and technicians.
The storm, which left 17 people dead as of Monday, was regarded as one of the most powerful recorded in the southern hemisphere.
A Reuters report said almost 8,000 people remained hunkered down in hundreds of evacuation centers across Fiji where they had headed before tropical cyclone Winston hit late on Saturday with winds of up to 325 kph (200 mph). —KBK, GMA News

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