Fijian villager makes the first call out of Cikobia

Cyclone Tomas uprooted trees and smashed houses as it tore through the Fijian island of Cikobia, a villager has told a local radio station.

Communication to the northern island went down last Friday, when the category four cyclone whipped up winds of over 200km/ph and caused massive storm surges.

A state of disaster was declared on Tuesday when over 17,000 people took shelter in emergency centres set up around the country.

Today, the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) received an unexpected phone call from a 58-year-old, unnamed villager from Vuninuku, who said his contact was the first made by anyone on the island.

Lines went dead before the FBC could get the man's name, but the network believed he was "the headman of the Vuninuku village".

He told the FBC the tropical cyclone hovered over the island for four days - uprooting trees, smashing houses, scattering debris and throwing sand into the air.

All the boats on the island have been washed away, he said.

He told the FBC he hadn't contacted the National Disaster Management Office yet - opting to share his story with the South Pacific nation first.

The Fiji Red Cross told AAP a navy ship is on its way from Suva to assess the damage to Cikobia and provide its 400 residents with emergency supplies.