Category 2 Tropical Cyclone Mal is expected to pass close to the west of the Fiji Group tonight however expect continuous heavy rain and destructive winds to start earlier.
Acting Director of the Nadi Weather Office, Bipen Prakash says Tropical Cyclone Mal is located about 420 kilometres West-southwest of Rotuma or 580 kilometres Northwest of Yasawa-i-Rara.
TC Mal has maximum winds of about 95 kilometres per hour, gusting to 130 kilometres per hour and will continue to increase.
The centre of the system is expected to be about 170 kilometres west of Nadi at 3am tomorrow.
The Weather Office says TC Mal is moving quite rapidly in a southeasterly direction towards Fiji with a speed of 28 kilometres per hour.
TC Forecast Track Map as of 11:09AM, 14 Tuesday November, 2023 Photo: Fiji Met
A heavy rain warning is currently in place for the whole of Fiji Group.
The cyclone will begin to have an impact on the Yasawa and Mamanuca Groups from later today.
While the system is expected to begin to affect Viti Levu from later this afternoon, most of the destructive winds are expected tonight.
Storm force winds are likely over the Yasawa and Mamanuca Groups, western and southern Viti Levu, Vatulele, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands.
However, it is a huge system and its effect can be far reaching. A gale warning is in force as far as western Vanua Levu including Dreketi, Bua to Savusavu, eastern Viti Levu and Lomaiviti Group.
These winds can break tree branches, blow unsecured and loose materials, disrupt communication network and power supply due to damaged power lines, damage temporary and weak structures, increase the risk of sea travel for all types of sea crafts, and increase the risk for hazardous breaking waves and coastal inundation of debris along low lying coastal areas, especially during high tides.
The ground is already saturated with a lot of rainfall in parts of the country so it can take little rainfall to knock off trees.
The trough of low pressure associated with tropical cyclone Mal is already bringing a lot of rainfall over the country, especially over the Central Division.
A flash flood warning is in force for parts of Suva and Lami with a flash flood alert for most parts of the Central Division and Ovalau Island.
Rainfall activity may intensify when the cyclone comes close to Fiji.
High tide is at around 7pm tonight.
