flooding

About 200 people were expected to shelter at Tavua District School in the northwest of the main island, Viti Levu.

One of the school buildings still has a gaping hole in its roof after the category five Cyclone Winston tore through little more than a month ago.

The Acting Director for Fiji Meteorological Service, Misaeli Funaki told Newswire that Tropical Depression (TD15F) is bringing in a lot of rain and more flooding is expected.

“High tide is coming in which will cause more flash flood in most areas. This likely to be the case of today and tomorrow.

The tropical disturbance is located just South-West of Kadavu. Right now the concern for us is the heavy rain and the flash floods it’s bringing,” said Funaki.

Funaki said the heavy rain warning still remains in force for the whole of the Fiji group.

FBC News says the Nadi Back Road is under water and all traffic is being diverted through the main town.

Navua is also experiencing heavy rain however there are no reports of flooding.

A flood warning remains in force for the low lying areas and adjacent to Rakiraki town.

It is the second time in as many years that high tides have caused significant flooding on Kili, home to displaced Bikini Islanders.

But the king tide-caused inundation in Majuro, the nation's capital, was mild compared to previous flooding in recent years.

The National Weather Service on Guam has issued a warning of possible inundation this week in Majuro.

The storm, which is expected to move across the Marshall Islands this week with near-galeforce winds, is kicking up heavy ocean swells that are expected to raise the risk of ocean flooding of low-lying areas in the capital.

It says the flooding is due to the amount of rainfall experienced over the past 24 hours.

The office says there is also a landslide along the Lemafa area and the Ford crossing at Tiavea tai has overflown and has been closed.

Days of heavy rains brought on by El Nino have caused three major rivers to swell, and authorities have reported at least six weather-related deaths.

A state of emergency is in force in Paraguay, the worst hit nation, where 130,000 people have fled their homes.

In northern Argentina, some 20,000 people have left their homes.

Dry weather is forecast for the Brazil-Uruguay border region in the next few days, but in Paraguay and Argentina water levels are still expected to rise.

Paraguay

The category 1 cyclone battered Samoa and American Samoa yesterday bringing torrential rain that caused flooding and slips, while strong winds were recorded in Tonga. The storm is due to pass close to Niue tomorrow.

In Samoa, flash flooding was reported across the island of Savai'i and homes were evacuated in the capital Apia.

The country's Meteorological Office said a tropical depression to the west of the country continued to intensifying into a tropical cyclone, and issued several cyclone warnings throughout the day.

In an update on Saturday evening, the office said the system was about 202 kilometres west-southwest of Asau, on the northwestern coast of Savai'i, and about 278 kilometres west-southwest of Apia.

Along the coast, residents prepared for a second round of flooding as rivers swollen from days of devastating rains make their way toward the Atlantic. In the Columbia area, where some returned home to assess damage and clean up, the threat of more flooding still hadn't lifted.

About 1,000 residents near the compromised Beaver Dam were told to evacuate Wednesday morning, though the order was lifted several hours later when crews shored up the dam.