The South Pacific island-state of Tonga was slammed by a powerful Cyclone Ian forcing the island nation to declare a state of emergency after a Category 5 Cyclone hits the island, bringing winds estimated at 105 knots (200 km/hr).
Weather officials in the island-nation of Tonga stated that the category 5 cyclone was downgraded to category 4. Before the impact of the typhoon, the weather bureau forecasts that the category 5 cyclone will bring up to 155 knots of gusts.
The strong typhoon that hits the island surprisingly caused a little damage as confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Samiu Vaipulu during a media briefing. He was quoted as saying “There is a bit of damage at Ha’apai, some houses blown down at Foa but we still have telephone contacts with Ha’apai,” Deputy Prime Minister Samiu Vaipulu said.
The neighboring countries of Australia and New Zealand had aid services on standby before Cyclone Ian hits the island of Tonga. According to Prime Minister of Tonga there is no need to call for outside (–foul word(s) removed–)istance.
The Category 5 Cyclone Ian was downgraded by Tonga Meteorological Society to category 4 on late Saturday morning but the agency issued a statement that Cyclone Ian is capable of “very destructive” winds of up to 145 knots.
The Tropical Cyclone Ian ploughed overnight into the Vava’u area, one of Tonga’s main tourist destination, the director of emergencies, Leveni Aho, confirmed that a state of emergency was declared in the area when initial damage reports were received by the national government.
