LAUTOKA vegetable farmer Vingtesh Krishna was barely recovering from the January and March floods when heavy rain early Wednesday inundated his farm and damaged most of his crops.
The Drasa Seaside resident was in despair as he helplessly inspected his 10-acre farm.
“All of my vegetable crop has been completely destroyed,” said Mr Krishna.
He claims he lost about $10,000 worth of vegetables from the recent flooding.
“I not only supply vegetables, I also sell vegetables at the Lautoka market and this is my life and my family’s life. Without this we have nothing left,” he said.
Mr Krishna said most vegetable farmers in his area suffered a similar fate and were left with an uncertain future.
The sudden heavy downpour caught many households by surprise with many moving to high ground with only the clothes on their backs.
The Nadi weather office explained that the cause of the heavy rain was a trough of low pressure that became active from late Monday night as it moved towards Fiji from the west.
“It is now over Vanua Levu and Northern Lau and expected to move away from the group later this evening,” he said.
“Rain was recorded between 2am and 8am in the Western Division,” said Nadi weather office head Alipate Waqailecua.
He said some rainfall stations in the west recorded the heaviest falls in a space of one to two hours, with a rain rate of 50 to 60 mm per hour as the trough moved rapidly towards the east.