Minister for Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu has told Commissioners and other government officials to carry out their assessments quickly and ensure no one is left out.
While speaking to officials in Ba, Seruiratu has told them to start identifying their priority areas and adds agriculture is very important as well due to its implications on food security.
He says restoration of essential services such as power, water and accessibility to roads is in the hands of service providers.
Seruiratu also says they hope the weather clears by midweek as per the forecast so that work can be carried out including assessments.
He has also told officials to tend to those people who are in evacuation centres and ensure COVID-safe protocols are followed.
The Minister has also urged officials to clean up and move people back to their homes so that schools can be prepared for resumption of classes.
He says they need to keep people sheltered but also need to ensure that evacuation centres are ready for schools to restart.
Seruiratu says in a worse case scenario if there is a community in a school who cannot go back to their homes, then they will need to find alternative options.
He adds he is worried about evacuation centres and has asked the Health Ministry if random tests can be conducted so they could find out the level of transmission in the community.
Clean-up around Ba Town continues today with the help of soldiers from the RFMF and firefighters.
The Ba Town Council says they are continuing to clean debris, mud and silt from the Ba market.
The Ba Bus Stand has been cleaned and is now operational.
Teams are also helping clean up the affected area near Shop and Save and Newworld supermarkets.
Shops across main street Ba Town were inundated with floodwaters for over two days over the weekend and into early Monday morning.
The Ba river also burst its banks on Sunday.
Parents and teachers of the Votua Catholic School in Ba have come together to clean their school after flood waters entered almost all the classrooms.
They say they are doing it for their children.
Some other classrooms in the school which are on higher ground are being used as evacuation centres
Rakiraki Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, George Shiu Raj says the business community and the farmers in the area have been severely affected by the recent flooding.
Raj says almost every business has suffered losses and a number of sugarcane farms were also damaged by floodwaters.
He says they are currently cleaning up certain areas and shops in Rakiraki Town and firefighters from the National Fire Authority are doing a very good job.
Raj says business activity in Rakiraki has resumed to a certain extent today but not at full capacity.
He also adds there are some families who are still taking shelter in evacuation centres.
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