A navua family was left homeless after floodwaters and strong winds whipped up by Cyclone June destroyed their four-bedroom wooden house at Vakabalea.

According to an article published by The Fiji Times on May 7, 1997, Jojina Balu, 62, and her three grandchildren had to flee their home at around 6pm when surging floodwaters from a river estuary flooded their home on the Navua delta.

“We’ve been staying here for over 40 years now and been through many hurricanes and cyclones,” Ms Balu told the newspaper.

“We never thought this would happen to us.”

Rising waters caused the erosion of soil and loosened the house posts as neighbours rushed in to salvage whatever timber and corrugated iron they could.

Part of the house structure was washed away and only two rooms remained standing.

Ms Balu, her sickly husband and grandchildren were living temporarily with the Nicholson family of Navua.

Ms Balu complained about the lack of assistance from the Navua District Office team, saying no help was provided at the time.

But District Officer Navua Taniela Vocevoce said Ms Balu had been repeatedly warned to move to high ground.

“This was a result of sheer negligence on her part because if you stay close to the river, there is a high-risk element,” Mr Vocevoce said.

He said assistance was reserved only for those whose homes were directly destroyed by the cyclone.

“In this case, her house was dismantled by neighbours before we even got to the scene. They took the house down as a matter of caution.”

Ms Balu, however, was still hoping she would receive some sort of aid so her home could be rebuilt.