SUVA (Fiji) • A Pacific storm slammed into Fiji yesterday, tearing off roofs and flooding towns, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Tropical Cyclone Harold weakened slightly overnight from a scale-topping Category Five to a Category Four, but was still lashing Fiji with winds of up to 240kmh.

The NaDraki weather service said the cyclone remained "extremely dangerous" as it barrelled eastward, threatening further damage in Tonga early today.

Images on social media showed extensive damage at Nausori, outside the Fijian capital Suva, with corrugated iron roofs peeled back by the winds. The main street of Ba, in the island's north, was submerged after the river burst its banks.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said: "There are a number of reports of winds whipping up flying debris in the Suva area. It can be deadly. Keep yourself indoors and out of harm's way."

The National Disaster Management Office said residents along much of the south coast, home to many major tourist resorts, should evacuate. Its director Vasiti Soko said 85 evacuation centres had been set up and officials were attempting to maintain social distancing to ensure Covid-19 did not spread among evacuees.

Fiji has 15 cases of the coronavirus, with all known patients in quarantine before the cyclone hit.

Cyclone Harold claimed 27 lives in the Solomons last week, and on Tuesday ripped through Vanuatu, destroying much of the second-largest town Luganville.

World Vision's Vanuatu director Kendra Gates Derousseau said an aerial survey showed Melsisi town on Pentecost island had also been devastated.

Vanuatu's international borders are closed as the nation bids to remain one of the world's few places with no confirmed Covid-19 cases.

But the government has revoked a domestic travel ban to allow disaster relief to flow from Port Vila to the worst-hit islands in the north.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE