Updated 11:45am NZDT — Severe Cyclone Yasa passed over Fiji last night and this morning lies south east of Vanua Levu and is weakening quite quickly. It’s dropped from Category 5 to now 3. It remains a serious Severe cyclone.

Current stats:

• Air Pressure: 920hPa
• Winds: Sustained at 160km/h, Gusting 195km/h
• Tracking Direction: South East moving at 16 knots (30km/h) – Yasa is speeding up.
• Maximum Wave Height: 8.5 metres (28 feet)
• Severe Category 3

The storm has moved through at quite a good speed overnight and is now tracking away from Fiji’s main islands at 26km/h. The storm will be seriously impacting many islands to the south east and will continue to do so with destructive and life threatening conditions for much of today.

Meanwhile on Vanua Levu and Viti Levu we expect to see an improvement and easing of conditions across today.

YASA will then head out to sea but Tonga is now within the risk zone for warnings. Yasa has had a bit of an eastern lean this week – so Tonga is certainly exposed even though, as of now, a direct hit isn’t forecast. But this could change, so those in Tonga should be monitoring closely.

This is still a major storm event for Fiji today – but will ease later.

More updates today on this page.