Displaced families of ‘Atatā Island, who were affected by the 2022 January volcanic eruption and tsunami, faced catastrophic floods this morning.
The newly built homes had been affected by an extreme weather event.
A resident took to Facebook to vent her frustration after her property was overwhelmed by the flooding.
Tolofi Folauhola Folau said she had messaged the Ministry of Infrastructure’s chief executive and invited him to have a chat about the situation.
She asked why the Ministry had removed so much soil and left the area in a pit.
She said the place was “flooded”.
“Although we were in an island, it was clear we lived on dry land”, Folau said.
She said living in their new village during the flooding was just like living in the sea.
She invited the chief executive to look at the photos taken at the flooded scene.
“Thanks for the assistance but it is not safe,” Folau said.
Folau described her reaction to the negative impact of the flooding in Tongan as “I remember Egypt with the straw”, referring to the complaint by the Israeli in the Holy Bible in which they told Prophet Moses it would have been better if the Lord had just killed them in the land of Egypt rather than taking them out into the desert to make them all die from hunger.
Commenters on Folau’s post on Facebook were concerned.
“The government should urgently address this. And there should have been drainage, spillways and outlets in place. That should have been included in the plan designed for the place”, one commenter wrote.
The commenter said this showed the careless type of works commonly seen in Tonga when it came to incidents like this.
The new village at Masilamea on Tongatapu, on land allocated by the estate holder Prince Ata, was opened in December 2022.
It was 11 months after the destruction caused by the natural disaster before 22 displaced families started moving to this new village.
At the time, the Prime Minister said: “The government has worked with partners and all stakeholders to try and provide homes for the people of ‘Atata”.
Funding came through the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai Reconstruction budget from overseas donors and partners, in partnership with the Government of Tonga.
The Atatā islanders have also received fishing boats to help recover their livelihoods.
The flooding affected most of Tongatapu main island and images uploaded to Facebook showed flood waters entered houses in some other places.
There was no report of injuries.
The flooding came after Tonga Met Services warned earlier during the day that heavy raining and flooding would affect Tongatapu, ‘Eua, Ha’apai and Vava’u.
It announced this evening (March 28) that the weather warning had been cancelled.
