[Source: Fiji Meteorological Service/Facebook]

A significant amount of rainfall has been recorded in parts of the country in the past 24 hours, especially in the Central Division.

Fiji Metrological Service Acting Director Bipen Prakash says RKS, Lodoni registered 120 mm of rainfall between 9am yesterday and this morning followed by Navolau with 84 mm and Lomaivuna with 75 mm.

The water level at Nayavu station at Wainibuka River was 0.43m above alert level at 2 pm today and as such a flood alert is in force for low-lying and flood-prone areas adjacent and downstream of the Wainibuka and Wainimala Rivers.

A flash flood warning continues to be in force for the low-lying and flood-prone areas across Viti Levu, Vanua Levu and Taveuni.

The Acting Met Director says an active trough of low pressure associated with a Tropical Disturbance, TD05F, affects the Fiji group.

He adds a heavy rain warning remains in force for Yasawa and Mamanuca groups, the whole of Viti Levu and across the Northern Division, while a heavy rain alert is in force for the rest of the Fiji group.

“We are expecting this system to continue to have an impact on Fiji for the next couple of days because it’s quite slow moving. There’s already a lot of rainfall in certain parts of the country, especially the central division. The rainfall activity could become intense overnight or early morning. The high tide is at around 4 am, tomorrow morning. So I would like to emphasize that people who are living in flood prone areas be especially vigilant about this rainfall activity, which may happen overnight and into early morning. And with the tide at around 4am tomorrow morning”.

Prakash says the system is forecast to bring occasional to persistent periods of rain, heavy at times, along with a possibility of thunderstorms over the Fiji group.

Prakash says a strong wind warning remains in force for the land areas of Yasawa, Lau and Lomaiviti groups, Kadavu and nearby smaller islands, coastal Rakiraki, Taveuni and nearby smaller islands, and southern Viti Levu which is Sigatoka to Navua.

He says people in these areas can expect strong east to northerly winds with average wind speeds of up to 45 km/hr over these land areas.