The New Zealand and Australian Defence Force rotary assists deployed to Fiji this time last month to support relief efforts post Tropical Cyclone Winston have had to seek shelter at Suva's international airport, Nausori, as Tropical Cyclone Zena skirts along the main island's southern coast tonight.
RNZAF NH90s and ADF NH90s - blades folded and packed away as Tropical Cyclone Zena approaches Fiji. Once the doors are closed containers will be moved up to further protect our precious assets.
It takes 45 minutes to go from folded to flying state, although in this case it will take extra time to remove the containers and let the birds out of their cage again once the storm has passed.
At the time of this post going to air it was dead calm at Nausori however winds are forecast to potentially gust 55kts through the night and into late Thursday during squally thunderstorms with torrential rain.
