Tropical Cyclone Hola makes landfall in Vanuatu's northern islands

Vanuatu's weather office is warning of destructive storm force winds as Tropical Cyclone Hola makes landfall in Vanuatu's northern islands.

The roof has already blown off a classroom and some houses have collapsed on Vanuatu's island of Ambrym as the cyclone arrived this afternoon.

A Red Cross volunteer in the west of Ambrym, Bong Kimmy, said the wind there was getting very strong and the seas were rough.

The weather had been fine in the morning but changed quite suddenly around midday, he said.

Most people had heeded the warnings and moved away from the coastline but others did not get the warnings as the cellphone network was damaged, he said.

Several houses were damaged or collapsed on the north side of Ambrym and the roof of a secondary school classroom had blown out already, Mr Kimmy said.

The children at the school appeared to be safe and there were no reports of injuries so far, he said.

The cyclone remains a category two but this could increase over the next 12 to 18 hours as it moves west‑southwest at 6km/h.

Source: radionz.com