Severe Tropical Cyclone Kevin no longer a threat

Dark clouds rolling in at Touliki Harbour. Nuku'alofa, as Tropical Cyclone Kevin moved away from Tongan waters, 6 March 2023. Photo: Matangi Tonga.

As Severe Tropical Cyclone Kevin moved out of southern Tongan waters on Monday, March 6, the Fua'amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre was deactivated. No damage to land areas was reported.

STC Kevin tracked from the western Pacific. After battering Vanuatu, the large system moved to the south of Fiji where it intensified to a Category 5, on Saturday evening. It entered southern Tonga ocean as Cat. 4 near Tele-ki-Tokelau and Tele-ki Tonga.

However, Tonga Meteorology Services stated  that TC Kevin had continued to deintensify and was forecast to be located about 710km south of ‘Eua or 740km south of Nuku’alofa at 12:00am midnight today.

“The system has moved out of Tonga waters and is moving southeast at a speed of 30 knots (60km/hr) and will no longer directly affect Tonga.”

On Monday the skies in Tongatapu were heavy with clouds from the system.

Dark clouds rolling in at Touliki Harbour, Nuku'alofa, as TC Kevin moved away to the south of Tonga. 6 March 2023. Photo: Matangi Tonga.

NEMO

National Emergency Management Office Director Mafua Maka told Matangi Tonga at 11:50am today that there had been no reports of any damages so far.

“However, we are still working on collecting reports from each village,” he said.

Vanuatu hit

Meanwhile, Vanuatu was battered by two Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin, one after the other, leaving reported damages to roads and infrastructure.

STC Kevin was just over Vanuatu's capital Port Vila on Saturday morning, bringing destructive winds and heavy rainfall.

This was the second severe cyclone the country wasn slammed with last week.

A state of emergency has been declared for areas of Vanuatu impacted most by severe Tropical Cyclone Judy, which flattened properties before Kevin arrived.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stated, that hundreds of thousands of people in Vanuatu are estimated to be affected after the two-massive category 4 cyclones hit the island nation within 24 hours.

The cyclones knocked out telecommunication networks in the affected areas, leaving residents cut off from the outside world.

After leaving Vanuatu it continued to intensify in the the most powerful, Cat. 5 cyclone.

The location of STC Kevin south of Fiji and Tonga on Saturday 4 March when it intensified into Cat. 5. Image: Zoom Earth.