STC Harold: Dakuibeqa villagers say damage worse than Winston

Listen to this article:

Villagers stand in front of their damaged home in Dakuibeqa, Bega. Picture: SUPPLIED

Villagers of Dakuibeqa Village on Beqa moved to secure locations yesterday as reports spread that more than 10 homes were affected by Tropical Cyclone Harold.

“Of the 58 houses in the village, more than 10 houses are without roofs or have been partly damaged due to the strong winds and heavy rain,” said village disaster relief member Sevanai Waqasaqa.

“The winds were relentless this morning (yesterday) and by midday, we had already relocated families to the community hall, the church and also Sawau District School.”

Mr Waqasaqa, 37, a yaqona farmer of Dakuibeqa said youths in the village had gone to nearby plantations to uproot or collect root crops and vegetables they could find.

“Most plantations we visited had been badly damaged, we managed to collect all the tavioka and dalo that we could find that would help feed the village as we wait for help.”

He said the damage in the village was worse than what they had experienced during Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.

“It wasn’t this bad during TC Winston, we were not affected to this scale.

“But we are thankful there have been no injuries to anyone and the villagers are following all the safety rules in place to ensure everybody gets through this trying time.”

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 19
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)