‘Business as usual’ at Fiji resorts

Press, 22 April 1986, Page 8

‘Business as usual’ at Fiji resorts

NZPA-AAP Suva Resorts on Fiji’s Coral Coast and Nandi airport have not been affected by the latest torrential rains and flooding to hit Suva, the capital, a Government spokesman said yesterday. He said it was “business as usual” at the resorts more than 200 km from Suva which annually draw thousands of Australian and New Zealand tourists. Since the previous week-end, when storms from tropical Cyclone Martin lashed the resort areas, there had been little or no rain and the weather was sunny and warm.

It was a different story in Suva, however. After last week’s downpours in which eight people died and eight others were lost at sea, the city and surrounding districts were inundated again at the weekend, flooding more homes and causing chaos in the business community. Flooding was particularly severe in the lowlying delta area round Nausori, 20km north of Suva, the spokesman said. But Nausori Airport, which serves Suva, was still open. The water supply for about 150,000 residents of

the Suva area was restored yesterday after being cut on Friday when silt and debris clogged the main water-treatment plant Fiji relief fund PA Auckland The Fiji Association in Auckland has revived its disaster relief fund, said a spokesman last evening. He said $5OOO was already in the fund, set up to aid victims of a cyclone about 18 months ago in Fiji.