TC Tino

The wharf is out of operation after it was damaged during Cyclone Tino on Friday.

Rotumans have since taken to social media calling for the relocation of the wharf to the other side of the island at Motusa.

The Director of Fiji's National Disaster Management Office, Vasiti Soko, said it would look into the relocation once it received an assessment report from the local commissioner.

Hundreds of passengers and vehicles were stranded on Mulifanua and Salelologa wharves on Saturday when the Samoa Shipping Corporation temporarily called off its scheduled trips due to high seas and strong swells.

The corporation ferries went back to normal schedules on Sunday with additional trips to clear stranded passengers and vehicles.

Most of the electricity supply to disrupted areas in Upolu, Manono, Apolima, and Savaii islands have been restored.

Warnings however are still in place for fishing boats because of heavy swells.

Few of the country's 14 islands were spared damage, said Sumeo Silu, the director of the country's disaster management office. Two hundred people had been evacuated on main island Funafuti alone, he said, as reports of significant damage to infrastructure came in from outer islands.

"It's quite devastated," Mr Silu said.

On Funafuti on Friday, the normally calm and shimmering lagoon was stirred into a raging muddy cauldron. In the tempest, two giant barges were shunted from their moorings onto the beach, said Semi Malaki, a local broadcaster.

The storm was expected to pass directly over Tongatapu overnight with the capital, Nuku'alofa on track to take a direct hit, instead the cyclone just passed to the North of Tongatapu without its high winds and heavy rain.

But the northern Tongan groups of Vava'u and Ha'apai were being hammered by destructive storm force winds and torrential downpours, with gusts estimated at 180km/hr yesterday.

The storm was upgraded to a category three on Saturday morning, as it continued to intensify in the waters near Fiji's Lau group, with sustained winds predicted to increase to as much as 140km/h in the coming hours.

The cyclone showed little sign of relenting, said Stephen Meke, a forecaster at the Fiji Meteorological Service, and was on track to pass very close to, or even directly over, Tonga's main island Tongatapu and the low-lying capital, Nuku'alofa.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway in Tonga with the capital, Nuku'alofa, sitting directly in Tino's path.

The cyclone, which was upgraded to a category one early on Friday morning, was strengthening as it sat the south of Fiji's western Rotuma island, the Fiji Meteorological Service said.

But it was gathering strength as it moved southeast, where it was heading straight for Fiji's second-largest island, Vanua Levu.

Warnings had been issued for much of the country, with torrential rain, strong winds, and damaging swells forecast.