Damaging floods as heavy rain hits Samoa

Heavy rain has hit Samoa, causing flooding in some areas. Photo: Land Transport Authority - Samoa
Heavy rain has hit Samoa, causing flooding in some areas. Photo: Land Transport Authority - Samoa
Heavy rain has caused flooding in parts of Samoa, damaging homes and infrastructure.

The island of Savai'i is the worst affected area, with reports of damaged roads and bridges, power outages and school closures.

Samoa Meteorology Division officer Silipa Mulitalo said the rain and flooding had subsided, but they were continuing to closely monitor the weather system.

"We are seeing updates from the land transport authorities who are on the ground for the infrastructure side of things...looking at roads and bridges," Mulitalo said.

"Some of them have closed. It is very much clear here in Apia. It's cloudy with overcast conditions, not much rainfall has been recorded."

The capital Apia and most parts of the island of Upolu have been largely unaffected by the rain.

"We are seeing decreasing rainfall activities," Mulitalo said.

"So, we can imagine that in the next 6 to 12 hours for all the rainfall to runoff to the ocean but there's still a lot of moisture around the areas," she said.

"But in the next 24 hours there is still the potential of heavy downpours from time to time."

The bad weather has also caused disruptions to inter-island ferry service between Upolu and Savai'i.

The Samoa Shipping Corporation Limited said its services between Salelologa and Mulifanua have been delayed due to the poor weather situation.