Tropical Cyclone Pam blasts South Pacific island chain

PORT VILLA , Vanuatu, March 13 (UPI) -- One of the most powerful storms to hit the South Pacific in years -- a category 5 cyclone packing drenching rains and 165 mile-an-hour winds -- has left a trail of devastation, relief workers have said.

The nation of Vanuatu, a chain of more than 80 islands off Australia's northeastern coast, was hit Friday by Tropical Cyclone Pam. UNICEF in Australia said via Twitter that the storm's size and impact have been larger than expected.

Officials say communication among the country's islands and population of about 270,000 was lost, and power was interrupted. Satellite imagery showed a storm with sustained winds of up to 165 miles per hour and gusts of 200 miles per hour. It made landfall on the Vanuatu capital of Port Villa.

The Australian Red Cross said the storm has left much damage and that humanitarian needs are "enormous," CNN reported late Friday.

The Port Villa airport weather station reported rapidly falling barometric pressure before going offline at 8 p.m. local time Friday. A Facebook message sent before the power loss, The Washington Post reported Friday, read, "The power is off. Water cut off for some houses. Wind is terrifying."

Meteorologists said late Friday that the storm had weakened, but was still hitting the islands with hard rains and strong winds. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, said the area had received about nine inches of rain in a 36-hour period, CNN reported.

The Humans of Vanuatu Facebook page has chronicled the storm's passing.

Because of the mild climate, much of the country's housing stock is made of light materials that include straw and corrugated metals.

"The strongest thing they've got is cement churches," Inga Mepham of CARE International for the Vanuatu told CNN. "Some of them don't have that. It's hard to find a structure that you'd think would be able to withstand a Category 5.

"The cyclone's coming through, but then we've probably got 48 hours of humongous tropical storms as well, which is going to dump a lot of rain on an area that's been hit by a cyclone that may have a lot of damage. There's a lot of risk right now, and there's a lot of risk in the next four to five days as well."