Powerful Storm Hits Cook Islands
 

It looks like a very strong cyclone (Cat 4 or possibly Cat 5) is going to hit Aitutaki and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands today. Air New Zealand has suspended flights there and some tourists are being evacuated. If you are heading there in the near future check with both your hotel and Air New Zealand to confirm status of our accomodations and flight. This looks to be a big one folks, with winds possibly up to 160 MPH and 30 foot seas so there could be some extensive damage. Though this is hurricane season down there, generally the Cooks - especially the southern islands (Rarotonga & Aitutaki) - are spared hits as they are off the normal storm tracks. Not this time around. Could do damage like Hurricane Iniki did to Kauai a decade or so back. May be pretty ugly.

Ken

PS: More info can be found here:

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/ca...s.cfm?catid=20

Update as of 3:30 PST: It looks as it the storm swirved and mostly missed both Aitutaki and Rarotonga. Apparently some trees down and some flooding but the storm hit during low tide so overall it sounds like things are OK. No fatalities or serious injuries reported so far. Still windy there, but the storm is now moving away. Everyone obviously much relieved.

Ken

That's good news. Such a wonderful place.

Phew, Glad to here nobody was seriously injured.

Thanks for the update.

Yeah, there's some damage on the north side of the island. Avarua sounds like it was hit the worse by the tidal surge. The Police building was apprently damaged as was the post office and Trader Jacks is "just a shell". I Imagine places like Jetsave Travel got hit some too so if you are booking through them you may encounter a couple of days of disrupted service in processing your bookings, but I suspect they'll be up and running in short order. Post office was apparently flooded and some mail washed away, so I you sent checks or inquiries through the mail you may want to check to see that they arrived. Same is true if you are expecting mail from there - if you don't receive something you are expecting then check to see if it was mailed yet.

Most of the resorts (which lie in other parts of the island) are apparently pretty much OK and it sounds like things may be back to normal very shortly.

Ken

Cook Island Herald photos of the storm:

http://www.ciherald.co.ck/

Ken

Hi Ken,

I have had a look at some of the pictures. It is a great shame that damage has been caused to Avarua.

My favourite Raro watering hole, Trader Jacks, is now just a shell. Hard to believe the water got that high given where it normally is on a calm day.

At least it appears that the South Coast has been spared.

Steve