Cyclone Paula

At the end of February 2001 Vanuatu had a surprise visitor in the form of Cyclone Paula. Although somewhat small in size, Paula still packed quite a punch. She came quickly and left just as quickly but her effect on the vegetation of Vanuatu was devastating.
The satellite photo at right shows Paula positioned over Vanuatu. The photos that follow were taken the morning after she passed us. The eye of the cyclone passed within 30 nautical miles of Port Vila where we live.
Paula lashed around us during the evening of 28 Feb. We awoke the next morning to find our garden looking as though someone had gone wild with a giant whipper snipper. The ground was covered with shredded leaves and broken branches. Fortunately we didn't lose any trees.
Our balcony took the full brunt of the "Hurricane Force" winds, which reached up to 70 knots. Despite the cyclone shutters, rain was still driven under the doors by the force of the wind. Also, the drainage holes on the balcony above ours, blocked up, causing water to leak through the ceiling into our lounge room.
After breakfast we drove around town to check on friends and survey the extent of the damage. The roads were littered with fallen leaves.
Everywhere we drove, huge trees had been blown down. Some had been snapped at the base, others had blown over roots and all. Work men were busy with chainsaws and bush knives, but in some places you had to drive around obstacles like this tree.
The drainage around town always struggles with heavy tropical downpours. Normally cyclones bring with them up to a week of heavy rain. We were very fortunate to only suffer torrential rain for a day. Otherwise puddles like this would have been bigger and more common.
The worst effect of Cyclone Paula was the devastation of the food gardens throughout Vanuatu. The force of the wind snapped most banana, papaya and manioc trees and shook the fruit from the grapefruits, avocado, oranges, limes, lemons, mango and other fruit trees.
This photograph and the previous one were taken of the food gardens in the street where we live. Normally lush and bountiful, they have since been chopped right back to re-shoot. The markets are now nearly empty and it could be months before people have surplus food to sell. Most local people will have to eat expensive, imported foods until their gardens recover.
The rough seas in the harbour tore yachts from their moorings. This mast is all that can be seen of one yacht that sank in front of the food markets.
Another view of the sunken yacht, with Iririki Island in the background. Normally, the water in the harbour is perfectly clear and calm, and a beautiful mixture of blues, greens and turquoises.
Another victim, washed onto the rocks outside the Rossi Restaurant. Three other yachts were also washed ashore, one at Malapoa and two onto Iririki. During Cyclone Uma, which passed over Port Vila in 1987, thirty yachts were sunk in the Harbour and many buildings were destroyed.
A thatched roof, from a hut at Le Lagon Resort. Although most "European style" houses were not greatly damaged, houses built using traditional methods and materials, lost their roofs or were blown down. Many people in the villages still build in the traditional way. Therefore, they not only lost their gardens, but also their cooking houses, other outbuildings and many even lost their houses.
Once we had finished our tour of town it was time to return home and start our own clean up. Inside there was water to be mopped up and things to be dried out. Here Geoff and Simon begin the task of removing the cyclone shutters to let in some air and sunshine.
The boys worked hard to sweep up the leaves and branches blown onto the balcony. It took days for Malone the gardener to clean up the gardens. God blessed us with sunshine and gentle breezes on the days that followed so we were able to dry everything out quickly and didn't have any problems with mould.
At right: A scanned image of the cyclone tracking map that we used to record Paula's path using positions given over Radio Vanuatu. She changed course slightly during the early evening which took her further away from Port Vila. If she had maintained her original course she would have passed even closer to Port Vila, resulting in much greater destruction.
At right: a map from our cyclone tracking website showing the course of Paula. It was predicted she would continue to build as she made her way to Fiji. However she blew herself out fairly quickly after leaving Vanuatu. At right: is a satellite image showing Cyclone Paula over Vanuatu and Cyclone Abigail over Northern Australia
From the time, that the tropical depression first formed on Monday 26 February, until the morning after it passed, Karen kept a diary of our preparations and other developments. If you would like a first hand account of what it's like to go through your first cyclone, please press on the Cyclone Paula Diary link. The Cyclone Safety link in the Vanuatu General Information section of our site will take you to information about cyclone readiness and alerts as printed in the front of the Vanuatu Phone Book.