Severe flooding and landslides in Fiji have killed six people and left hundreds more homeless.
Sharon Smith-Johns, the permanent secretary of information for the South
Pacific nation said on Thursday that heavy rain since last weekend had forced 3,500 people into temporary shelters.  She also said some people had lost all their possessions.
She said a landslide on Wednesday killed a family of four, including two toddlers, in the remote Tukuraki village on the main island of Viti Levu.
Two farmers also died in separate incidents as they tried to rescue livestock on the islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.  The western regions of Nadi, Lautoka, Ba, Tavua and Rakiraki have been worst hit.
Smith-Johns said a break in the weather on Thursday was giving people hope the worst was over, but they now faced the devastation that was left behind as the water receded.  In the town of Ba, local residents were seen cleaning up the damage caused during the previous days.
But in remote rural areas, people struggled with the aftermath of the floods.  According to a report by New Zealand broadcaster TV3, residents of the village Nawaqarua face severe shortages of food, water and clothes.  The Red Cross told TV3 it had water to deliver to villages like Nawaqarua but could not get access because of damaged and cut off roads.  Pastor Jone Lesu, the Red Cross President in Ba, said the only way of getting anywhere was by walking.
"They have to walk as we have seen. They can only walk from here to here. Or we can make an arrangement with the police, to take them if they are willing," he said.

Today’s surface map near Fiji shows a High pressure to the SW and a trough of low pressure to the East. The area of Suva hit hardest with the severe flooding and landslides can expect partly sunny to mostly cloudy skies today. Temperatures will warm to a high of 77 degrees Fahrenheit which is 25 degrees Celsius.