By Sela Jane Hopgood of RNZ.co.nz. The broadcaster’s story is republished with permission
A Samoan-New Zealand lifeguard is encouraging Pasifika to take up swimming lessons in the wake of a report highlighting their over-representation in drowning statistics.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s Beach & Coastal Safety Report show Pasifika, Māori and Asians are over-represented in drowning figures.
Photo: Surf Life Saving New Zealand
On average, 36 people drown every year on New Zealand’s coastlines, the report found.
Most drownings occurred on non-lifeguarded beaches or outside of patrol hours, and 87 percent of victims were male.
SLSNZ chief executive Paul Dalton said per capita, although not overall, Māori and Pacific people were over-represented in the figures.
“Their exposure to risk is a bit higher than other ethnicities simply because of kaimoana [food from the sea], the connection they have with the water. They are out there doing stuff, and different stuff to everyone else.”
Last year a University of Auckland study discovered found a majority of cases in New Zealand were not wearing a lifejacket when found.
The study also found the median age of drowning victims was 41 years.
In terms of ethnicity, 37 percent were European New Zealanders, 12 percent were Asian, 24 percent were Māori and 19 percent Pasifika.
University of Auckland study spokesperson Dr Jonathon Webber said the latter two were over-represented in the statistics compared with their percentages in the population, perhaps due to activities of food gathering and fishing.
In 2012, Pacific people were also over-represented in drowning statistics, making up 7 percent of New Zealand’s population at the time, but accounting for 9 percent of the country’s drowning deaths.
Two thirds of all Māori and Pacific drowning deaths were recreational-based.
Large-scale and small-scale fishing in the waters off Madang in Papua New Guinea. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
Surf Life Saving NZ lifeguard John Tuia (who is of Samoan heritage) said there were many Pasifika who did not participate in swimming lessons and it was one of the reasons why there were high drowning rates for that particular group.
“I can personally relate to this because when I grew up in Samoa, swimming lessons was never a priority because we would always swim in shallow water. Also , in the islands there are not many places that run swimming classes like they do in New Zealand.
“Pasifika grow up learning to cover yourself as a sign of being respectful to the public, so wearing swimming togs is not common practice. In general, Pasifika wear t-shirt and shorts to cover up when swimming, but we know heavy clothing is not ideal as these can become water logged and heavy, making it difficult to swim or float,” he said.
Tuia said there were a lot of places in New Zealand where people could sign up for swimming lessons, but financial cost was a barrier for some Pasifika families.
“It’s really unfortunate because Pasifika love the ocean. In every report released by SLSNZ we find that it the people who go diving for food to feed their families that get in trouble in the water.
“The main reason is because they haven’t been taught about water safety,” he said.
Tongan Olympic swimmer Amini Fonua said this was an issue for not just Pasifika, but Pacific people in the region.
“I go back to Tonga every Christmas or every second Christmas and I try to host free swimming lessons for kids because it is bizarre how we live around islands, but we don’t know how to swim, so I hope we can change that.
“We have a tough time with water safety and the swimming school in the Pacific still, so I think having kids learn how to swim and have water safety skills that will last a lifetime I think that’s the biggest thing that makes me happy with what I do.”
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
SLSNZ is calling for more public education about water safety.
“Education needs to continue with an “ages and stages” approach, so that we’re not just trying to get it all over and done with teaching kids to swim and then leave it at that,” Dalton said.
“We actually need to keep going and recognising all the times and points in your life when you’re engaging in water activities.
“We also need to have cultural responsive forms of education in New Zealand as well.”
A Tongan convicted murderer is being guarded in a special “prison within a prison” along with the Christchurch mosque shooter, Brenton Tarrant, at a huge cost to the New Zealand taxpayers.
A third notoriously violent criminal Hemi Te Poono has been also locked up in the same unit of the prison.
Siuaki Lisiate, who was of Tongan descent, was sentenced to preventive detention for stabbing murderer Graeme Burton, an amputee, more than 40 times with a shank. Burton is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 26 years for shooting Karl Kuchenbecker dead in Lower Hutt in 2007.
Lisiate, a Crips gang boss, also known as JFK or Just F***ing Krazy ordered the 2009 execution of rival Bloods gang member, Tue Faavae, at Auckland Prison – the same place where Burton was attacked.
Faavae, 23, was strangled to death with a radio power cord in a gang-related revenge killing.
Lisiate was sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment for the murder, with a minimum non-parole period of 18 years.
The special prison
The facility, known as the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit, was set up four months after Tarrant murdered 51 worshippers and injured 40 others at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques, the Herald reported.
Tarrant was sentenced to life without parole.
“Based within Auckland Prison but run separately, the unit is the operational and custodial function of the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Directorate – a group also established in response to the March 15 terror attack,” it said.
“Its role has since been expanded and Corrections National Commissioner Rachel Leota says it now manages other inmates who present “an ongoing risk of serious violence”.
It also supervises prisoners who have the ability to “influence others to engage in serious violence or threats”.
As well as “violent extremists”, Leota says offenders connected to organised crime groups may also fall under the group’s purview given their “capability to seriously threaten the safety and security of a prison”.
“It is a separate entity – a prison within prison,” a source said of the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit.
Unit cost
“It’s a secret squirrel operation. There is a special vetting system for staff to work there.”
Corrections says the unit cost $2.77 million in the year to October 31, excluding the salaries of the six staff in its management group.
That compares to Corrections spending about $1.1 billion in 2020 to guard close to 10,000 prisoners across all its facilities.
The average population at Auckland Prison on any given day in the 2019/20 financial year was 522, a Corrections spokesman said.
A further $150,000 has been spent so far on modifications within the unit to protect the “health, safety and security” of staff and inmates. Leota refused to release specific details because it was “operationally sensitive”.
By Sela Jane Hopgood of RNZ.co.nz. This story is republished with permission.
Former education minister and Tongan academic is calling for the Ministry of Education to reconsider their plans to amend the Tongan language policy.
School children from Tonga’s Ha’apai Islands. Photo: RNZ / Jane Patterson
Last month Education Minister, Siaosi Sovaleni, announced plans to introduce English as a second language for classes one to three. The English language was currently being offered to students in class three through song and poetry.
Tongan academic, Dr ‘Ana Taufe’ulungaki, said there were two reasons as to why she believed the English language should not be taught at such a young age.
Taufe’ulungaki said global research revealed that the best language to teach a child was their mother tongue, a language in which both child and teacher could communicate and understand each other in.
Photo: Supplied
“Although the children are growing up in an environment in which they are surrounded by English through the media, it’s important to instil the Tongan language while the children are young, so that they’re confident in the language before applying those same skills to the English language,” Taufe’ulungaki said.
The maintenance of the Tongan language in the long term was another point Taufe’ulungaki stressed, “as studies have shown that if you do not teach the language to the next generation, the language is likely to be lost,” she said.
“The Tongan language is already at risk and I’m seeing an increase in parents using English as the main language at home. If you think about the broader context here in which we apply the Tongan language, if we are not careful of what we do in education and at home, we can safely say that our language would disappear in the next generation or so.
“The Tongan language is one of the strong indicators of our identity as Tongans. Tonga is the home of the Tongan language and if Tonga does not privilege its own language in its home country, who else would privilege the language?”
Science offered a much more complex view of the relationship with languages evolves over a lifetime – and there is much to encourage late beginners.
Photo: 123RF
A professor of developmental linguistics Antonella Sorace has reportedly told media that broadly speaking, different life stages give us different advantages in language learning.
“As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds; as toddlers, we can pick up native accents with astonishing speed.
“As adults, we have longer attention spans and crucial skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our vocabulary, even in our own language.
“And a wealth of factors beyond ageing – like social circumstances, teaching methods, and even love and friendship – can affect how many languages we speak and how well.”
A study by researchers in Israel found, for example, that adults were better at grasping an artificial language rule and applying it to new words in a lab setting.
The scientists compared three separate groups: 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and young adults. The adults scored higher than both younger groups, and the 12-year-olds also did better than the younger children.
This chimed with the results of a long-term study of almost 2,000 Catalan-Spanish bilingual learners of English: the late starters acquired the new language faster than the younger starters.
Dr Taufe’ulungaki said that with the studies that have been done globally, she would prefer for the English language to be introduced at high school level.
“According to research, a child does not master his or her first language until he or she is about 12 years of age and so if we want the foundation of Tongan to be firm and strong, then we need to delay the introduction of the English language to a later stage until we are certain that our children are strong in their mother tongue.
“But of course politically that would not be acceptable and many parents are now up in arms about the delay of the introduction of English, which is one of the reasons the view was recommended that English be re-introduced as it used to be in the old days at class one,” she explained.
Education Minister Siaosi Sovaleni has yet to respond to RNZ Pacific request for an interview.
However, Taufe’ulungaki did mention that Sovaleni had announced to local media that the government was reviewing the policy and the planned amendments were not confirmed, as they are still considering them.
UPDATED: Democratic Leader Semisi Sika has asked CEO Viola Ulakai of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission and Television Tonga for a chance to give his side of her interview in which Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa accused him against the government’s road repair work contracts.
(L-R) PTOA Leader Sēmisi Sika, PM Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa and TBC CEO Viola Ulakai
Sika has criticised the interview as “misleading the country and untrue”.
He claimed it was typical of the broadcaster to release such false information without seeking those being accused in their story for a response.
Sika said it has been too much and it kept on coming from time to time but he has no time to correct them.
“I just leave them to the public to judge,” Sika said in an email this morning to Uluaki and other local news media including Kaniva.
Sika said since some journalists and members of the public kept on asking him for his side of the TBC interview with Tu’i’onetoa he thought it was time for him to do something about it.
“I ask Viola and the TBC to give me an opportunity to respond to the PM’s accusations which were untrue,” Sika’s email read in Tongan.
“I deeply feel the hatred and bad feeling in this interview.”
Ulakai has yet to respond to Sika through this morning’s recipients email network.
Sika’s concerns come after the Prime Minister claimed in the interview that Sika negotiated and signed contract agreements with five private companies to repair roads in Tongatapu, Vava’u, Ha’apai and ‘Eua from May 2018 until May 2021.
As Kaniva News reported last week, Tu’i’onetoa told the interview his government could not do anything to repair and fill potholes recently developing on roads in Tongatapu because of the agreements signed by Sika, who was the former Minister of Infrastructure in 2018.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s comments during the interview Ulakai claimed: “I thank you Mr Prime Minister for sharing the truth so that we understand it. Many people here in Tonga thought the government and the Ministry of Infrastructure had been careless and had left the potholes unrepaired. Now it became clear that that responsibility has been assigned to these contractors for three years until May 2021”.
Ulakai didn’t ask Tui’onetoa whether these companies have breached their contract agreements or whether the government has contacted them to discuss the issue.
She also did not seek the companies or Sika’s sides of the story.
Sika’s denial
Sika denied the Prime Minister’s accusations as untrue.
He told us he didn’t sign the agreements as the law stipulated all government contract agreements must be processed through its Procurement Committee. He said this Committee has the authority to scrutinise companies which bid for its contract works before they offered the jobs to successful bidders.
Sika said the five companies the Prime Minister referred to, namely BB Contractor, Five Star – a company belongs to Sika’s parents, To’a Contractor, Petani Quarry and Veisiale Construction, were waiting for the government to tell them what works to do and which roads to repair.
He said although the contract agreements had been signed, these contractors can only do road works when the Ministry of Infrastructure assigned them their tasks to do.
“If these companies repair a road without seeking permission from the government first the Ministry of Finance would not pay their invoices,” Sika said.
He said he wished the Prime Minister did his job for the country in good spirit.
He said Tu’i’onetoa’s statements to media in which he mentioned him and the PTOA Party appear to show he was holding a grudge against them.
Ulakai and TBC
The state broadcaster has been accused for many years of a general bias and partiality when it comes to late democratic veteran ‘Akilisi Pohiva and the democrats.
Ulakai who is now the new CEO of the TBC and Television Tonga was suspended by the TBC board in 2016.
Her suspension followed a recommendation after late Prime Minister Pōhiva questioned her integrity by saying he was “disappointed” to learn that Ulakai had falsely claimed that a request for a press conference to answer questions regarding his son were made on behalf of the Tongan Media Council.
At the time the president of the Tonga Media Council Luseane Vaea released a press release denying Ulakai’s request.
“I was not aware of Mrs. Viola Ulakai using the Tonga Media Council name for any reason. I was not engaged nor were my employers (FM 87.5) involved in any communication in her request for interviews for media coverage,” the press release read.
At the time Pōhiva said he suspected Ulakai of acting as a mouthpiece for his political opponents.
Ulakai was contacted for comment at the time.
Former General Manager
Ulakai was not alone in this TBC longstanding saga.
Other former TBC senior staff had been accused by the democrats of being royalists and using the broadcaster as a platform to attack them in their unbalanced and partial stories.
In 2017 Kaniva News ran a story headlined – Former TBC boss defends claim interview was example of “highly unfair and partial” news
In that story, former TBC General Manager Nanisē Fifita was accused of conducting a one-sided interview with former Prime Minister Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi and that she failed to seek responses from those who were being attacked during the interview she hosted.
She didn’t deny the accusation, instead she invited Kaniva News to “look at the one-sided coverage on the same (and other issues) by other media.”
“Are you looking into that as well or just picking on TBC?” she asked.
Fifita was responding after her interview of Lord Sevele in 2014 became a point of heated debate and discussion among social media users at the time, with many criticising it for what they saw as its partiality and imbalance.
In the 42-minute Youtube clip Fifita interviewed Lord Sevele regarding a Parliamentary report on how the TP$119 million loan from China was spent.
The report grew out of inquiry by the Parliamentary committee led by Pōhiva while he was leader of the Opposition and Dr Sitīveni Halapua.
During the interview Lord Sevele attacked Pōhiva and Dr. Halapua and also strongly criticised the Parliamentary committee.
“’Akilisi and Sitīveni, where did you get this lie from”, Lord Sevele asked during the interview.
Fifita didn’t bring Pōhiva, Dr Halapua or somebody else from the Parliamentary Committee to join the interview.
‘Ahongalu Fusimālohi, the former chair of the TBC board, told Kaniva at the time if he had been chairman at the time of the interview the piece would not have been aired without the other side being given the opportunity to respond.
“It is a bad example of what I would call fair and impartial reporting. It is highly unfair and partial”.
Former senior broadcaster Laumanu Petelō
In 2017, the former TBC senior broadcaster Laumanu Patelō clashed with Late Prime Minister Pōhiva during a press conference in Nuku’alofa.
Petelō accused the Prime Minister saying he did not want the TBC to report anything bad about him.
She reminded Pōhiva that he previously accused her of being malevolent.
“Nobody knows, but I can easily tell from your face and the way you presented your questions there was anger. That’s how I looked at it. I may be wrong,” Pohiva told Petelō
“Radio A3Z’s (TBC) history as it came to me personally was not good,” he told the conference.
FAKAMATALA FAKA-TONGA NOUNOU
Kuo kole ‘a Sēmisi Sika kia Viola Ulakai ko e CEO ia ‘o e TBC ke ‘oange hano faingamalie ke ‘oatu ha’ane tali ki he’ena faka’eke’eke mo e palēmia’. Pehē ‘e Sika’, ko e faka’eke’eke ‘eni ‘oku ne takihala’i e kakai ‘o e fonua’ ‘i he ngaahi fakamatala mo e ngaahi tukuaki’i ‘o ia ‘a ia ‘oku ta’e mo’oni
“ ‘Oku ou ongo’i lahi ‘a e taufehi’a moe loto ‘oku ‘ikai ke lelei mei he faka’eke’eke ko ‘eni .”
Na’a’ ne pehē ‘oku anga maheni pe foki e fakahoko mai a e ngaahi fakamatala ta’emo’oni ko ‘eni pea ikai fai hano fakatonutonu he ‘oku lahi pea ta’emotu ‘a ‘ene ha’u pea te ne to’o e konga lahi hono taimi ‘o ka nofo hifo ke fakatonutonu.
“’Oku ou tuku pe ki he kakai ke nau sio mo fai fakamaau he ‘oku ‘ikai puli ha me’a ‘e taha ki he vakai ‘a e kakai,” ko e lau ia ‘a Sika he pongipongi ‘i ha’ane ‘imeili kia Viola mo e ngaahi mitia Tonga.
“Ko e ‘uhi ko e kei ‘eke mai ‘e he ni’ihi ‘o e kau faiongoongo pea moe tokolahi ‘o e kakai ‘oku ou faka’amu peau kole heni ke fai ange mu’a ha’aku fakama’ala’ala mo ‘oatu ha’aku tali ki he ngaahi tukuaki’i ta’e mo’oni ko ‘eni .
“’Oku ou kole atu kia Viola pea moe TBC ke tuku mai mu’a ha’aku faingamalie ke ‘oatu ha’aku tali ki he ngaahi tukuaki’i ‘a e PM ‘oku fakahoko”
A former Fiji government advisor has criticised New Zealand’s involvement in the controversial Draft Police Bill in Fiji.
Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama with New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern in London, 2018 Photo: Supplied
The draft legislation would give police greater surveillance powers if passed in Parliament.
Police can secretly monitor and record communications of people they suspect are about to commit a crime or have committed one, the Bill states.
The law also allows police to recruit an informer or anyone else who can provide information in relation to an investigation.
Another part of the draft bill drawing attention is where it forbids officers from joining a union and it would be unlawful for them to go on strike or to take any other type of industrial action.
The proposal, currently under public consultation, is expected to replace the 1965 Police Act.
Since its launch in Suva last week, attended by officials from the New Zealand High Commission, the draft bill had come under intense scrutiny from civil society groups and Opposition parties.
New Zealand confirmed it was funding the consultation process and the government maintained it had done nothing wrong.
But Auckland-based Shailendra Raju, a former advisor the late Fiji prime minister Laisenia Qarase, said NZ could not use its donor status as an excuse to support the ‘draconian’ draft Bill which could turn Fiji into a police state.
Raju condemned Wellington’s move.
“The record of the Fiji government has shown there has never been any consultation where feedback from it has been taken onboard. Just look at what happened to the constitutional process: a draft was drawn up and yet the government brought about its own constitution and that has been imposed on the people.
“What we find objectionable is New Zealand giving support in terms of funding to the public consultation which is not going to bring about any change to the form the bill as it has been written and which will be imposed on the people of Fiji.”
Raju said it was foolish to think the consultations would do any public good or that it would take into account objections to the bill.
Raju called on New Zealand to withdraw its funding and recall the high commissioner to “ask him what’s going on”.
He said Wellington should be aware of what is contained in the bill.
Shailendra Raju Photo: Supplied
NZ pushes for consultation
New Zealand said while it was funding the consultations, it did not have a hand in drafting the proposed Bill.
The High Commissioner to Fiji, Jonathan Curr, took to social media to counter claims that Wellington drafted a bill to give increased powers to Fiji’s often corrupt police force.
Amid intense criticism on Facebook, Curr took to Twitter: “NZ is engaged in a 4-year strengthening programme with @fijipoliceforce, partnering with @UNDP_Pacific & @nzpolice to improve policing, and support Fiji to meet international human rights obligations.”
In a second tweet, Curr said a component of the aid programme was to support public consultations on the Draft Police Bill 2020: “NZ has not been involved in drafting or developing the Bill.”
And in a third tweet he said: “Such an important piece of legislation needs to be consulted with Fiji’s citizens. This is an opportunity for the community to influence the final shape of the Bill, and to express concerns & provide feedback.”
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern signed off the deal during her visit to Fiji in February, 2020.
In a statement, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said New Zealand was working with the UN’s development agency (UNDP) to strengthen programmes in Fiji’s Police Force.
The ministry said increasing transparency around rule of law systems is one of its key objectives in supporting the consultation process.
“This is why we, along with other agencies, are supporting work to ensure the Bill is widely consulted with Fiji’s citizens to encourage open discussion and a diversity of views.
“This is an opportunity for the community to express concerns and provide feedback to help shape the final Bill.”
New Zealand is spending $US5.4 million over four years to improve the Fiji Police Force which, since the 2006 Bainimarama coup, had been under military control.
Fiji lawyer and politician Tupou Draunidalo supported New Zealand’s insistence on consultations, saying they were useful.
Draunidalo posted on Facebook that if New Zealand did not sponsor the consultations, Fiji would ‘get the bill in its raw form through s.51 standing orders (as is normal) with one-hour debate.
“So what NZ is sponsoring (to allow every Fijian a say in the Bill, not even just the parliamentarians) is highly commendable for current and future governance infrastructure.”
A 37-year-old woman has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment after she broke into a house in Nukunuku and stole mats and ta’ovala with a total value of $14,100.
Justice Laki Niu suspended ‘Ana Katokakala Siale’s sentence for three years on condition that she must not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment within the period of three years of her suspension.
Siale pleaded guilty to two charges of serious housebreaking and theft.
Siale was sentenced to five-year imprisonment for the housebreaking offence. For theft offence, she was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Both sentences were to be served concurrently and suspended.
The court heard that on 15 June 2020 Siale broke into the dwelling house of Milise Vaiangina in Nukunuku and stole the valuable goods.
According to court records, in 2004 the mother of seven broke into a house and stole a ta’ovala and piece of tapa that belonged to her mother’s sister and sold them to get money. She was later charged and convicted of that theft.
In that case, she was fined $100 and ordered to pay compensation of $500.
In 2012, she bought a ta’ovala worth $800 for $200 knowing it had been stolen.
She was ordered to be on probation for two years but after the probation ended, she went and broke into a house in Kolomotu’a in 2015 and stole mats and ta’ovala from there.
“You offered the properties as security for loans you took from loan businesses at Havelu and Mataika. You did not repay the loans and the properties were put up for sale on the net and the owner identified them as hers,” the judge said.
“You were arrested, charged and convicted and you were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, 6 months of which you served and 12 months were suspended for 2 years.”
(AUCKLAND, NZ) A father who died in hospital after his wife’s body was found in a car on Wednesday is believed to have killed her before taking his own life.
Toakase Finau. Photo/Supplied
He has been identified by the family as Viliami Latu, who was on electronically-monitored bail before the tragic incident occurred.
Officers arrived about 9am to conduct a bail check and found him in a critical condition, along with a note.
He was rushed to Middlemore hospital and remained there for two days in critical condition before Police confirmed his death yesterday, Saturday morning.
He and wife, Toakase Finau, 29, are survived by their four children, three sons and one daughter. The eldest is 10 year-old while the youngest was three-year-old, their grandmother, Finau’s mother Alilia Teu Kata told Kaniva News.
Reports said Latu allegedly breached bail several weeks before the killing at his brother’s house in Pukekohe.
Detectives believe Latu killed Finau before attempting to take his own life, according to reports.
Kata told Kaniva News her family were holding a meeting to see if the couple could be buried together.
Toakase’s family have announced a prayer vigil plan for her funeral services.
It said the first failotu was expected to be held in Ōtāhuhu at 13 Pukeiti Road this Thursday 18.
The body of Finau is expected to be buried this Saturday.
Stuff reported that “Neighbours and people who shared a house with the couple at their former rental property in Ōtara have described an abusive relationship where Finau would often be seen with injuries including black eyes.”
“Others described Latu wandering the streets of Ōtara with a machete after staying up for days at a time.”
Kata said a note was found with Finau’s body on Wednesday. She said she was with her before she left to go to Pukekohe the week before her death.
She said she told Finau to leave her only daughter Siunipa with her.
Finau later texted Kata after she left asking if she was okay.
Kata said that was the last message she received from Finau.
This story by RNZ.co.nz is republished with permission
Tonga’s Meteorological Service has announced that the country has a 45 percent chance for at least one tropical cyclone to happen for the remainder of this cyclone season.
The Tonga Met Service reported that if a cyclone does affect Tonga between late March to mid-April, there’s a 25 percent chance of it being severe, and most likely coming from the Fiji area.
The peak time for the occurrence of tropical cyclones in Tonga is from January to March, with most events occurring in February.
The northern islands of Niuafo’ou and Niuatoputapu experienced heavy rainfall in December that exceeded the averages expected.
In January, heavy rainfall exceeded the averages expected for Tongatapu, Ha’apai and Vava’u.
However, climate models are expecting near normal or below normal rainfall for most of Tonga for the remainder of the tropical cyclone season.
