Results for Vava'u

A 56-year-old woman from Canada was found dead by her husband who went to wake her up in their yacht ‘Sea Oak’ on Thursday morning 7 July in Neiafu, Vava'u.

“It’s a wrap!”, said German filmmaker Florian Schewe, today after winding up six weeks of filming in Neiafu and Kenutu Island, Vava‘u. "The Tongan crew and cast members did a fantastic job, without them we could have not accomplished the filming,” he told Matangi Tonga Online.

Filming of new German feature film - a drama based on a true story, has started in Vava’u in April under the direction of a German film maker Florian Schewe, with a crew of about 20 people, mainly German, who have fallen in love with Vava'u.

Apart from loss of agricultural food crops, some damage to schools, Ngu Hospital and HMAF Camp Fangatongo, Vava‘u has emerged from Cyclone Winston’s two close passes without significant damage to major infrastructure, an official assessment survey has concluded. Australia delivered 400 mosquito nets in partnership with the Tonga Red Cross Society to help control the spread of Zika virus after the cyclone.

The very large Tropical Cyclone Winston (Cat. 4) currently has hurricane force winds across its 150kms diameter and the intensifying storm might become a high Cat. 4 – or even Cat. 5, sometime before midday Friday, north of Vava’u, warns Tonga Met. NEMO was meeting this afternoon and may possibly declare a state of emergency for Tonga later today, based on emerging models of the intensifying and dangerous storm.

As Tongans welcome drought-breaking rains today, bringing relief from a February heatwave, Tonga Met warns that Tonga can expect gales tonight as Tropical Cyclone Winston cat. 2 approaches Tonga from the southwest. The first Tropical Cyclone Warning for TC Winston was issued at 4:30pm this afternoon and a second at 7:30pm for the cyclone that is forecast to hang around in Tongan waters for most of the week.

Vava‘u will now be easier to reach for international visitors with new weekly flights to the northern Tongan archipelago direct from Nadi, Fiji starting on 2 April 2016.

The Tonga government last night cancelled a State of Emergency that was declared for Vava’u and Ha’apai on 31 December as Tropical Cyclone Ula entered Tongan waters. A government team after assessing the situation in Vava'u and Ha'apai yesterday, had found little damage to public infrastructure.

Initial reports have confirmed no casualties in Vava'u which has escaped major damage to infrastructure, apart from fallen trees due to Tropical Cyclone Ula. A state of emergency issued only for Vava’u and Ha’apai remains in force to be reviewed. While Tonga's climate experts say that a lack of moisture to drive the system prevented it from intensifying into a devastating Category 4 or 5 storm.