More than 100 millimetres of rain fell in just two hours in Suva causing flooding of roads.

The Fiji Meteorological Services recorded 100.3mm of rain in the Laucala Bay area between 1pm and 3pm yesterday. The downpour brought about by the rain bands currently affecting the nation.

Added to that, the high tide peak was at 3:45pm.

Average rainfall on a typical day in Suva is five millimetres.

Areas in the capital, particularly, Fletcher Road, Laucala Bay Road, the ANZ Stadium, University of the South Pacific, Queen Elizabeth Drive and even Albert Park were inundated with flooded waters.

Drains overflowed showing the incapacity to cater for such a heavy downpour.

Suva and Lami special administrator Isikeli Tikoduadua said Suva City Council teams were on standby to clear clogged drains.

“As the council we can only do this. The bigger onus is on the public themselves not to throw rubbish into the waterways which block drainage and cause such localised flooding,” he said.

“We are hoping that we can create awareness on such issues and help to ease the solution.

“For deeper and bigger drains, that is something that needs to be discussed with the Fiji Roads Authority.”

Traffic

Many motorists travelling at that time were held up for up to two-and-a-half hours as traffic almost came to a standstill.

At USP, a few cars that were at the student carpark were damaged by the rising waters. Some had water level reach more than halfway up the vehicle.

Mithendra Jai said water had made its way inside his vehicle but he was lucky when his vehicle started.

“There were some vehicles that did not have the same luck as we did,” he said.

The Muanivatu Informal Settlement also experienced flooding with some residents reporting water inside their homes. The water level dropped in some areas as dramatically it rose.

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