Aitutaki braces for Tropical Cyclone Wati

By RNZ Pacific reporters 

The Aitutaki Island Council has activated its emergency operations centre as Tropical Cyclone Wati approaches. 

Wati, a category 2 system, is moving southeast towards the Southern Cook Islands, with conditions expected to deteriorate over the coming days. 

The Cook Islands Meteorological Service said Wati was gradually moving south to southeast at about 16km/h and was about 290km north of Palmerston at 2pm Saturday local time, with max sustained winds of up to 91km/h close to its centre, with gusts reaching 130km/h. 

Its forecast for Aitutaki and Ngaputoru (Mauke, Mitiaro and Atiu) is: 

• Fresh to strong winds of 35-55km/h, with gusts up to 80km/h.
• Winds are expected to strengthen to damaging gale force from Sunday, averaging around 95km/h, with gusts up to 130km/h.
• Cloudy periods with showers, increasing to periods of rain, heavy at times with squally thunderstorms from tomorrow.
• Rough seas with moderate to heavy swells. High to very high seas are expected from Sunday morning (Monday morning NZT). 

For the Northern Cook Islands, the Meteorological Service has issued its final special weather bulletin for the group. 

Emergency Management Cook Islands director, John Strickland told RNZ Pacific it was monitoring Wati as it moved towards Aitutaki. 

He said Aitutaki island was very much set and prepared. 

“Aitutaki is under the management of the island council which is the mayor, his council, and an executive officer for the Government. 

“They have now activated their own emergency operation centre and are ready for anything that might hit them probably tomorrow morning or maybe tonight,” he said. 

Schools have been organised on the island, and a maintenance team, police, the water authority, Red Cross and other supporting agencies are on standby for Wati. 

Strickland said it was predicted that Wati would go between the islands of Mauke, Mitiaro and Atiu. 

Ready for Wati 

The Cook Islands Meteorological Service’s Nathan Tism said it was fortunate that they spotted the tropical depression before it turned into a tropical cyclone. 

“A lot of warnings were sent out to everyone before the system intensified, and because it was up in the north tracking towards the south where no islands in its pathway, we were quite fortunate with that,” he said. 

The system is forecast to leave the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Cook Islands in the next three days. 

“So probably by Monday local time, it will weaken and develop into a low pressure,” Tism said. 

This story was first published on rnz.co.nz