Storm batters Tongareva
Real appeal accounting
Mon
22 Feb
 |
| A satellite picture taken at noon yesterday. . 10022159 |
While the Southern Cook Islands was waiting yesterday to see which direction a new storm would take, the atoll of Penrhyn was getting a hammering from gale winds and heavy rain from the intensifying depression, beginning on Saturday night. The Fiji Met Service said Penrhyn, 1365km north of Rarotonga, received 156mm of rain over a six hour period, about an inch an hour! The storm was originally travelling eastwards across the Northern Group until it reached Penrhyn where it then made a very slow turn around the atoll on Sunday and was forecast to head off in a south west direction, making a reverse letter C curve. Penrhyn, also known as Tongareva, Mangarongaro and Hararanga, is the country’s largest atoll, and its lagoon is so expansive that you could fit 3.5 Rarotongas into it! In the satellite picture taken by the US Navy about noon yesterday, the horseshoe shaped atoll of Penrhyn can be seen near the centre, while the storm swirls around.
BLOWING IN THE WIND
“When a politician with an army at his command gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar or up the wrong skirt it is not uncommon for the failed man to start a war to get his scandal off the front page of the newspaper,” a smoke signaller writes. “Pity the poor politician with no army, when he is all over the front page he can only hope for a natural disaster. Any politician being investigated for using influence to get aid money or who might have thrown away a few million public dollars must be bowing to the god of the winds for the temporary relief from the media.”
SAMOA TACKLES MONGOOSE
Here in Raro when you hear the word Mongoose you picture a team of players reliving their glory days on the rugby field. In neighbouring Samoa they’ve got the real McCoy running around...well they did last week until they bagged one of the carnivores less than 24 hours after setting 10 special traps. Pictured holding a very dead male mongoose – and bearing a passing resemblance to one of our own Mongoose stalwarts – is Mark Bonin, the Pacific Invasives Learning Network Coordinator. Funding was sought to purchase 30 traps designed in New Zealand for stoats, ferrets and similar animals, and had been tested with good results on mongoose in Hawaii. Samoa has no known established population of the mongoose, but the animals are common in Hawaii and Fiji, having been introduced to control the rats that were damaging the sugar cane fields. Despite this, mongooses do not reduce rat damage, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed the mongoose as one of the 100 worst invasive species because of the impact it has on native birds and animals. In Fiji it is considered the main cause behind the extinction of several bird species on Viti Levu, the largest island. Although this male mongoose was caught in Samoa very swiftly, Bonin said they plan to continue trapping in the area for at least a year.
RAGGEDY FLAGS
With the windy conditions over the past few weeks, some flags on Rarotonga were looking decidedly worse for wear at the time this photo was taken. This flag, flapping above CITC main store in Avarua, had lost about half of its white stars, as had the flag above the Frangi office at Nikao. A sign of the political times maybe?
‘NOT ENOUGH’
This smokie is from one of our online readers: “I just feel disappointed with the money from the New Zealand government to help with the hurricane relief in Aitutaki. The NZ government has sent more money to other countries that have been devastated by a hurricane.”
Real appeal accounting
Tue
23 Feb
“The letter writer (CINews Mon Feb 22) warning of the need to have a real accounting of ALL Aitutaki fund-raising was spot on,” writes a smoke signaller. “Sorry to you folks on the side of the road selling plates of food or watermelons ‘in aid of Aitutaki’ but history suggests a donor would be better off dropping the same amount of money off to the Red Cross. As for the ‘official’ aid committee that has formed, can we be told now, not later, that each and everyone there is a full volunteer? Can we be told in advance what expenses of the committee that the committee will pay?”
FATALITY REKINDLES HELMET DEBATE
After yet another motorbike road death, a smoke signaller wonders when the politicians will change the helmet law. “Unfortunately, it looks like it will only happen after one of their own children get killed.”
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
One of our online readers writes: “My name is Edward Koteka, known as Eddie. I really enjoy reading the Cook Islands News here in New Zealand. I have come to know about this website (cookislandsnews.com) through my pakeha boss who was finding out about a Cook Islands person. It’s good to read about the news and what’s happening back home. I haven’t been back since 1989, so hopefully this year I will make an effort with my family to visit around December. Keep up with good work. God Bless. Ka Kite Ano.”
|
