SUVA, Fiji — A tropical cyclone that developed in the South Pacific Ocean April 7, moved westerly across Fiji. For the next four days, the storm brought high tides and heavy deluges of rainfall to Viti Levu, the Fijian island that is also home to Suva, the nation's capital.

Photo by John Bennion

Members of the Suva Fiji North Stake changed a leadership meeting into a flood relief effort by exchanging white shirts for work clothes. They assisted members of the Navua Ward by cleaning and scrubbing their homes.

Named by weather officials, Tropical Cyclone 22P took the lives of 11 people in some of Fiji's smaller villages. No members of the Church or missionaries were injured in the storm.

However, 10 families of the Suva Fiji North Stake in the village of Navua suffered severe flooding in their homes, most of which are built over two meters (6 feet) off the ground.

As the storm approached, radio and television stations repeatedly encouraged citizens without homes to seek shelter in Latter-day Saint meetinghouses in their areas. An official from the Fiji Health Ministry contacted the Church about evacuating the hospital in the little village of Navua, about an hour west of Suva, to the LDS Navua meetinghouse.

Only a few LDS meetinghouses lay within the flooded areas and they suffered only minor water damage from the heavy rains. The Navua meetinghouse is still being used as a shelter and had up to 60 people there at the height of the disaster.

At the meetinghouse, one flood refugee expressed to John Bennion, facilities management supervisor in the Church's Fiji Service Center, how grateful he was that the Church had been built on this particular hill and how he and his family were saved because they were able to escape the flood waters by seeking shelter in the meetinghouse. He mentioned that if it were not for the meetinghouse, others would have perished in the floods.

The Church's Welfare Department distributed blankets and hygiene kits to flood victims throughout the area.

Suva Fiji North Stake President Tipo Solomone visited his stake members following the floods. He reported, "Most damage occurred to household items and furnishings. Many of our members in Navua were not expecting anything like what happened. When the waters started to come into their homes, they had to leave them in a great hurry for their safety. When they returned the same evening or early the next morning they found their household items either under water or floating."

The clean up of the mud left behind by the flood waters is requiring a lot of labor and many helping hands, President Solomone added.

"We converted our scheduled stake leadership training at the Navua Ward on the Saturday following the floods into a relief effort," he said. "Instead of white shirts and ties, we dressed for work and took food and cleaning materials and spent a good part of the day helping the members clean up the mud from their homes."

In Navua, Brother Ratu Viliame Volavola related this experience: "Of the 10 member homes flooded here, three were owned by widows. These sisters courageously remained in their homes during the whole ordeal, which lasted most of Thursday and into the night. Fortunately, throughout the night, their homes were not totally submerged by the rising waters. Of all those who were deserving and needing help the next day, these widowed sisters decided they would not ask for any, because after all, there were probably others who needed the assistance more than they. These stalwart sisters, not to be outdone by the floods, took advantage of the receding waters and swept the sticky mud from their homes into the streams of water running across their floors, leaving them clean and ready to dry."

The Volavola family related that while they are emotionally devastated by the damage caused to their farm crops and household items, they were somewhat relieved when they returned and found their food storage pouches floating on top of the water in their flooded home. This sight, and the immediate availability of clean food to eat, gave them a new appreciation for the Church's Welfare program and the emphasis the leaders have placed on food storage.