PAGO PAGO, American Samoa - A powerful cyclone was on course for the southern Cook Islands Tuesday as relief efforts were stepped up for the battered northern islands of the tiny South Pacific state.
The Australian Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information (APCEDI) said the atoll of Palmerston, with a population of 50 people, was likely to be the next target of Percy, which had strengthened again into a category four cyclone, the second most devastating on a five point scale.
"This scenario is particularly troubling for Palmerston atoll as they could receive a near direct hit by Percy which could cause serious damage similar to what happened on Pukapuka and Nassau," APCEDI said.
Palmerston has no cyclone-proof buildings but residents were used to sheltering from cyclones in the atoll's interior, away from surging seas, it added.
Percy lay 260 kilometres (160 miles) northwest of Palmerston early Tuesday evening and was moving south at about 22 kph with gusts of up to 285 kph, the Fiji Meteorological Service said.
Cook Islands deputy police commissioner Maara Tetava said business and government offices in the main island of Rarotonga would be closed Wednesday as the cyclone approached.
"The boards should be up on the windows tomorrow morning," he said.
The 670 residents of Pukapuka and Nassau islands in the northern group of the Cook Islands were clearing up Tuesday after most of the buildings on the islands were destroyed or badly damaged by Percy on Sunday.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules left Rarotonga Tuesday to fly relief supplies to the island of Penrhyn in the northern Cook Islands Tuesday. From there, the supplies were to be shipped to Pukapuka and Nassau.
New Zealand Aid Minister Marian Hobbs said an overflight by a New Zealand Air Force aircraft Monday indicated about 80 percent of the houses on the two islands had lost their roofs. No casualties were reported.
Late Friday and early Saturday Percy caused widespread damage and one injury on Tokelau's three atolls. Percy is the fourth cyclone in the region in the last month.
In American Samoa, concerns about five people living on Swain's Island were alleviated in the wake of Cyclone Percy, when communications were reopened Monday for the first time in three weeks.
Swain's representative in the American Samoan legislature, Alex Jennings, said all five were well and a US aircraft was due to take supplies to the island Tuesday.
"They are so happy we finally made contact because they don't have any more food," Jennings said.
03/02/2005 08:58 GMT