Devastating Fiji Floods

Quick Restoration Work After Devastating Fiji Floods

Road communications in Fiji, severely damaged by the floods at the end of March, were almost completely restored less than a month later. Huge slips in the Wainibuka Valley, along the King’s Road, were cleared immediately fine weather arrived and communications between Suva and Nadi and Lautoka were re-opened.

IT was on the more popular Queen’s Road, running along the south coast of Viti Levu from Suva to Nadi and Lautoka, that damage was most serious. Bridges at Nadi and near Deuba were washed away, and the long single-lane traffic span over the Sigatoka River was partly swept away.

Seventy-one tons of Bailey bridg ing, brought in from New Zealand, was used to replace the bridge near Deuba, and a ferry, used at the Navuso Agricultural School, near Nausori, was transferred to Sigatoka to move vehicular traffic over that river. Punts were in operation at Nadi, and a road link was open be tween the township and points north over what is known as the Nadi Back Road.

Bridge Problem

The Sigatoka Bridge, owned by the CSR Co. Ltd., presented a major engineering problem, but the owners were quickly in action. Only three weeks after the flood subsided pre stressed concrete piles were on their way from Australia, and other bridg ing material was rushed to the area.

While waiting for the equipment to arrive the CSR Co. Ltd., through its Fiji subsidiary, SPSM Ltd., set up a camp at Sigatoka for the men whose task it will be to replace the bridge.

Till road communications were restored the Transport Control Board allowed bus operators a fairly easy time and let them work out their own arrangements. Certainly many people were held up for days in try ing to move from one point to another, but eventually they got there.

There was very serious damage to subsistence crops in the Rewa Valley, not far from Suva, and money paid into the flood relief fund was paid out almost immediately.

But there were also disquieting re ports that some people in the valley, rather than get out and fend for them selves, just sat down and let the Gov ernment feed them.

Fortunately these were in the minority for most accepted the disaster

and immediately set about planting new crops.

The Department of Agriculture made an appeal for planting material, such as dalo leaf tops.

Fiji’s banana crop wag not dam aged as much as was first thought.

Fiji had only a few hundred cases in the first shipment to New Zealand immediately after the flood, but the next shipment was more than 6,00 C cases of high quality fruit.

Cost Not Known However, it will be some months yet before a final assessment can be made of the crop damage, for crops which disappeared overnight canno quickly be replaced, even in <. tropical country where growth is rapid.

The first official estimate of th< total damage was around th< £500,000 mark, but the final figun is expected to be higher.

Among the relief supplies tha arrived in the Colony from oversea was £15,000 in cash from the Aus tralian Government.