Heavy rain triggered flooding in several parts of Savaii including road crossings in Sapapalii, Lano and Saipipi on Thursday morning with small vehicles making unsuccessful attempts to cross low lying fords.
The Samoa Meteorological Service had issued a Heavy Rain Advisory in its 5am severe weather information bulletin on Thursday morning. By 8am several crossings in Savaii were declared by LTA “unsafe to cross for vehicles, especially lower cars.
A live video posted online by one of the villagers showed a white ford pick up truck submerged in water as Sapapalii village families moved in to try and help.
The Land Transport Authority LTA had issued a notice on their social media pages to warn the public against crossing the Sapalii Ford on Thursday morning.
“Faamolemole tautuana le saogalemū pe a uia le auala simā o loo i Sapapalii. ”
“Please drive with caution when traveling to Sapapalii Ford.”
The Sapapalii crossing was closed for most of Thursday and only declared safe in the late afternoon for higher vehicles to cross.
The Saipipi Road was also completely damaged and declared unsafe to cross.
Warnings were also issued for the Sasina Ford, the Vailoa Palauli Ford and the Lano Ford crossings.
The Lano Ford crossings was declared unsafe due to severely damaged roads.
Despite burst rivers, the Maliolio bridge was still higher than the water level rise and safe for commuters to cross.
The Samoa Shipping Corporation had also issued a public notice advising that ferry crossings between the two main islands of Upolu and Savaii were delayed due to bad weather.
The rain did retreat and by late afternoon, all of the crossings were reopen including Sasina which had been closed due to road damage..
