Meet Tropical Cyclone Amos

Look out for Samoa and Tonga

New cyclone in the Pacific

A new tropical cyclone has developed in the Pacific.

Tropical cyclone Amos Photo: Fiji Meteorological Service

Radio NZ,

21 April, 2016

Tropical Cyclone Amos, which was tropical depression 17F, was named overnight and is moving westsouthwest at eight kilometres an our.

New Zealand's Metservice says cyclone Amos is currently located over open waters about 280 kilometres west of Rotuma, Fiji or 300 kilometres northwest of Futuna.

The category one cyclone has estimated winds of around 65 kilometres an hour at its centre and that's expected to increase to 95 kilometres an hour in the next 12 hours.

Meteorologist at MetService, Bill Singh, said Amos would likely be a problem for Samoa and the Northern part of Tonga over the weekend.

"If the cyclone moves just south of Samoa, it's going to affect Samoa and probably northern parts of Tonga to. Those two, northern parts of Tonga, Samoa, Wallis and Futuna are probably in its track as the system begins to track eastwards," he said.

Meanwhile, the Samoa Disaster Management Office issued a warning on Thursday morning saying continuous rainfall is increasing to risk of flooding for all low-lying areas.

It is advising all motorists and pedestrians be vigilant when travelling on roads and to not attempt to cross any overflowing rivers, bridges & fords.

The New Zealand and Fiji Met services are also monitoring another tropical depression off the southern Cook Islands