Cyclone tears through Pacific island nation of Vanuatu

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Winds from an extremely powerful cyclone that blew through the Pacific’s Vanuatu archipelago were beginning to subside today, revealing widespread destruction and unconfirmed reports of dozens of deaths.

Communication systems in many of the hard-hit outer islands remained down, meaning it could take some time before the full extent of the damage caused by Cyclone Pam is known.

Chloe Morrison, a World Vision emergency communications officer who is in Port Vila, said the capital’s streets were littered with roofs blown from homes, uprooted trees and downed power lines. She said she’s hearing reports of entire villages being destroyed in more remote areas.

She said there is no power or running water in the capital and that communication remains unreliable.

“It’s still really quite dangerous outside. Most people are still hunkering down,” she said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the impact and scope of the disaster weren’t yet clear, but he feared the damage and destruction could be widespread.

Morrison said the winds seemed to peak between midnight and 1 a.m. today. She said she was in a fully boarded-up cyclone-proof house but still spent a frightening night as a tree and a tin roof from a nearby home hit her house.

A westward change of course put populated areas directly in the path of Cyclone Pam’s 170 mile-per-hour winds. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were unconfirmed reports of deaths in Vanuatu’s northeastern islands after Cyclone Pam moved off its expected track.

Located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii, Vanuatu has a population of 267,000 spread over 65 islands. About 47,000 people live in the capital.

The tiny Pacific island nation has repeatedly warned it is already suffering devastating effects from climate change with the island’s coastal areas being washed away, forcing resettlement to higher ground and smaller yields on traditional crops.

Authorities in New Zealand are preparing for the storm, which is forecast to pass north of the country on Sunday and Monday.