Update on Tropical Cyclone Percy by Kirsty McCabe
Tropical Cyclone Percy has left much of the population of the northern Cook Islands of Pukapuka and Nassau homeless. The storm blew through the South Pacific islands on Monday damaging houses and trees, knocking out communications and littering the islands with debris. Luckily there have been no reports of any casualties.
Percy has now begun its long anticipated turn to the south and is moving southeast at around 10 mph. With winds gusting to 150mph, Percy is still a major Category 3 storm (5 is the strongest), but it is forecast to gradually weaken as it moves south. That has relieved the pressure on Rakahanga and Manihiki Islands to the east of Pukapuka. Manhiki was the location of the 1997 tragedy with Cyclone Martin where 19 people died. However, the current track puts the Southern Cooks in Percy’s path, warns the Fiji Meteorological Service, and the islands of Niue and American Samoa are still at risk should a more unexpected southwesterly change occur.
On Sunday the cyclone passed to the northeast of Swain’s Island, a remote atoll of American Samoa. All efforts to contact Swain’s remain unsuccessful, but an aircraft from Honolulu is set to fly over Swain’s and drop food and medical supplies.
Percy is the fourth storm to hit the region this month. His passage has caused further problems for residents on the Manu’a Islands, which were badly affected by Cyclone Olaf. Rough seas have prevented American Red Cross emergency supplies leaving the main island of Tutila.
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