"It was a category five cyclone of enormous strength, creating winds so forceful that palm trees, designed by nature to withstand strong winds, were being stripped down to the trunk and snapped in half," says John Leeves, remembering the effect of Cyclone Winston.
In 2017, the storm left Fiji, and other Pacific island nations, devastated. Homes were flattened and families uprooted. "It was probably the most intense cyclone to hit Fiji on record," adds Terry Atalifo, one of the senior meteorologists working for Fiji Meteorological Service during Cyclone Winston.
Leeves, a senior geotechnical and natural disasters engineer at Tonkin + Taylor, based in Auckland, New Zealand, recalls the devastation he witnessed when visiting a number of villages destroyed in Fiji. "A lot of them were located on the coast, so as the eye of the cyclone came in, you not only had incredibly strong winds to contend with but also a massive storm surge," he says.
In total, 44 Fijians lost their lives. The devastating health impact of the disaster has lasted right up to today, with some communities left without water for sanitation and drinking, and food sources polluted or destroyed. "About 62% of the population was affected during Winston – that's equivalent to 540,000 people," says Atalifo. "And the impact is huge, especially for the communities. And there was a lot of impact to agriculture, which was the sector that was most badly damaged."