A 76-year-old woman yesterday described how she crawled naked to the mountain, Delai Dokidoki, in Koro Island.

Karalaini Tumouta, said Tropical Cyclone Winston was so strong that it ripped apart her clothes.

She was in tears as she recounted her experience. Stones and branches were falling and some fell around her.

“I could feel the stones and rocks sliding to the grounds, I didn’t want to look back as I was just focusing on staying alive,” she said.

“I was all alone climbing that mountain for almost five hours.”

She said that when she finally reached the top of the mountain, she could feel that she was all naked.

“My clothes were ripped off by the wind,” she said.

At the top, she then tried to reach the Nasau Health Center. She said she couldn’t walk anymore, as she was very weak so she crawled.

“I crawled to the hospital which was few kilometers away, all I wanted was to reach the hospital alive,” she said.

Mrs Tuimouta said when she reached the hospital, some of the villagers were there, wet and naked too.

“Some of them had no clothes on at all, so we were given the hospital white sheets to cover ourselves,” she said.

“Many were wet and shivering till the next morning.”

She said that while at the hospital she found out about her four-year-old granddaughter Vitinia Lolo’s death.

“The Lord saved me that night,” she said.

Edited by Maraia Vula

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