Eyewitness: Fiji's worst floods

Severe flooding in Fiji has killed at least 10 people and left thousands in temporary shelters.

A Fiji resident, agricultural consultant Charles Eaton, describes the impact of the storms.

---

Many residents have moved into emergency shelters

This is the worst flooding I have ever experienced - and I have been through four or five major hurricanes. A lot of the old villagers here would confirm how bad it has been.

Yesterday I waded through a flooded creek for 40 minutes to get to town. But it was worse for people who lived on the other side of town. Many have had to evacuate their homes and go to a higher ground.

A lot of goods and a lot of homes have been destroyed.

There has been a lot of damage to the shops in the towns of western Fiji, particularly in Nadi which is the hub of the tourist industry.

And there is a food crisis looming. The main problem is agricultural crops near the river which has been irrigated.

One of the reasons is the removal of stones and gravel from rivers for buildings needed in the tourist industry.

This has speeded up rivers and instead of natural weirs, the water comes down unimpeded. This is of major concern.

I drove along flooded roads today and for miles and miles there was debris everywhere, flattened crops. The river has been scoured, earth simply taken away.

The people I saw were trying to dry out and salvage what was left of the content of their homes.

The majority of houses were flooded up to five or six feet (1.5-1.8m) and in some instances the water went over the house.

It is fortunate that there wasn't a great loss of life.

This is going to have a very bad impact on the tourist industry and agriculturally. Prices are going up, there are likely to be food shortages. The next year or two are not going to be good to Fiji.

The market today was alive, absolutely packed, people were happy. They talked about the floods. There was no terrible despondency.

It has given me hope that people are resilient and will get on with their lives.