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Updated Wednesday, March 17, 2010 5:22 pm TWN, By PITA LIGAIULA, AP

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Fiji cyclone damage overwhelming, leader says

Tiny Cikobia Island, home to about 400 people, suffered four days of hammering from the cyclone, which smashed houses, uprooted trees, washed away all local boats and scattered debris across the island, Fiji Broadcasting Corp. reported Wednesday.

It received a brief phone call from an unnamed man at Vuninuku village on the island who said damage was so massive that it would take two days to clear the way to the only school near the village.

Before it could get the villager's name, the phone line to the island went dead again, the state-owned station said. A surveillance flight will check the island later Wednesday and a navy patrol boat is expected to reach there Thursday.

National Disaster Management Office spokesman Pajiliai Dobui said aerial surveillance was already under way over some northern islands "and we hope to tell from the air how serious the damage has been."

Offshore islands remained out of all contact "so we have still not got any word about casualties," he said.

Power, water, sewage and communications were still disrupted in many northern areas, but a key airport at Labasa in northern Vanua Levu had reopened for emergency supply flights.

Troops have been deployed to provide relief, including food, water and basic supplies.

Anthony Blake, relief coordinator at the Disaster Management Office, said shelter was top priority after preliminary reports indicated Tomas had caused "extensive damage" to the Lau group and the northern island of Cikobia.

"The people are living in caves at the moment," he said.

A New Zealand air force Hercules airplane that surveyed some northern areas found that "quite a few villages look like they have been hit pretty hard," Squadron Leader Kavae Tamariki told New Zealand's Stuff news Web site.

Many homes had lost their roofs and some houses were destroyed, he said, adding that not many people were seen. "We think they have fled to safety inland," Tamariki said.

Fiji's commissioner for its northern region, Col. Inia Seruratu, who was on board the flight, said he was confident most people were safe since they had received plenty of warning.

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