Sitting tight in Fiji as Cyclone Gita bears down on us

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

- wish we had a Walmart....

And I kind of wish we didn't.......

Best of Luck Helen!

Yikes! Hope you all stay safe, Helen! I thought it might be nice to live in an area that's always warm, since we got a foot of snow over the weekend. I just changed my mind!

Kathy

Thanks all. You're right, there is always a price to pay for the "living in Paradise" thing...

Cyclone Gita went across Tonga last night, and did a lot of damage (took the weather bureau out - and the Parliament house). Biggest scandal was that they declared a state of emergency, advised everyone to fortify their roofs and windows, but then would not lift the Sunday trading laws to allow hardware stores to open to let people buy the roofing iron and plywood they needed.

It's heading our way now, we have moderately strong winds and grey skies. The good news is that it looks as though it will stay south of us, so we are just hunkering down for a few thunderstorms and possible loss of electricity.

Rich, you'll never guess - we have an equivalent of Cosco, which has random things that are probably end of lines and surplus shipments, that is, rarely the same thing twice, but today they had battery operated fans! Never seen them before, probably never will again. I bought two, so I think, along with our solar lanterns and generator, we are pretty much set.

If power goes out so will internet, so I may be away for a while....

Glad you were able to score some battery powered fans. I'm sure they will come in real handy if your power goes out. Just make sure you have stocked up on plenty of batteries. They usually are in very short supply when power goes out.

Hope the storm passes well south of you.

As for the dumb things governments will do, obviously the USA doesn't have a monopoly on goofballs getting into positions of making stupid decisions that affect others.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

As for the dumb things governments will do, obviously the USA doesn't have a monopoly on goofballs getting into positions of making stupid decisions that affect others.

That's for sure; the first time they tested the tsunami warning system the schools all closed doors and let the kids out - so they all went to the seafront to watch....

Anyway the cyclone was a total anticlimax for most of Fiji - passed well south of us, and this morning we have calm seas, sunshine and electricity. However, it's impossible to accurately predict these things and I'd MUCH rather have a cyclone alert without a cyclone than the other way around. And now we are nicely prepared for the rest of the season which usually lasts until about Easter.

I'm really glad it passed you by!!

Thanks April, me too! We all really thought it was coming our way, a great relief when it didn't.

There is a small island opposite us, which usually only has a couple of small fishing boats on the beach at most. Yesterday there were more than 10 barges and large vessels drawn up on the sand, and smaller boats tucked into the mangrove corners. They're all starting to move off now as the tide comes in, and go back to their regular moorings.

Any safe port in a storm, eh?

Also this is the geek in me asking, but the suggested for battery-operated fans made me think of it - are solar setups popular on the island? Not so much the massive installations for running a whole building, but smaller ones that are used to charge batteries.

We have always had individual solar lanterns on hand - we get enough non-disaster related power outages that we use them frequently, and we have assisted villagers to install simple home kits with 3 or 4 lightbulbs and a phone charger. I totally recommend this brand if you are in the market:
http://www.dlight.com/

My partner has installed major solar systems for resorts, and we have a very simple solar hot water system at home (it's free hot water - why wouldn't you?). I'm not sure I'd go the while hog and try and run the house on solar - that is quite a technical leap, but I am very invested in portable solar panels to charge phones when I'm in outer islands - in fact I just got a new foldable set that will generate 25 watts.