Minister for National Disaster Management Jone Usamate

The Fiji Meteorology Office has installed a Fiji Flash Flood Guidance System which allows them to keep track of the likelihood of floods.

Minister for National Disaster Management Jone Usamate says the Met Office has mapped out all the likely flood areas in Fiji and advisories and warnings are given accordingly.

Usamate says during recent natural disasters they have seen that flooding is a major issue for us.

“We are now fine tuning our tools to be able to forecast these floods and as a result of this we hope to be able to keep our people safe and save our infrastructure, save the people in this country.”

Usamate also highlighted that the Met Office now has a Hydrology Unit which keeps track of rainfall in major rivers and streams that lead to flood basins.

He says every year they are adding seven new stations to monitor rainfall.

“Once again in the new budget year we will be looking at another seven additional sites to compliment the 40 that we have already. The new ones will be located mostly in Vanua Levu and also the Naboutini flats in Serua. As you know we had some flooding in that particular area. So we continuously looking to expand our hydrology network.”

Usamate says the additional stations will increase the coverage and help them keep track on the volume of rainfall.