SUVA, Fiji, March 15 (UPI) -- A cyclone Monday swamped Fiji's northern islands, killing at least one person and injuring dozens with heavy rain and gusts as high as 170 mph, officials said.
"Squatter houses have been blown away," Alipate Waqaicelua, forecaster for the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Center, told CNN.
Tropical Cyclone Tomas was moving northeast toward Viti Levu, where a night curfew was imposed and schools ordered closed until Thursday.
One woman drowned off the island of Vanua Leva while trying to rescue others from huge waves and eighteen patients at a hospital on Tavenui Island were evacuated after part of the hospital's roof blew off, TVNZ reported.
Dozens of injuries were reported and several villages in northern Vanua Leva were evacuated after rising water threatened bridges and swamped roads, Fiji's Disaster Management Center said.
The cyclone caused significant damage to water and power supplies in northern Fiji, but authorities had yet to fully assess the damage, TVNZ reported.
