Fiji braces for cyclone

Fiji's Disaster Management Authority is preparing for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Tomas.

The storm is situated northeast of Fiji and although it is not expected to make a direct hit on the main island of Viti Levu, it could bring strong winds, heavy rain and huge seas over the next few days.

It is currently whipping up winds of 90 kilometres an hour, which are likely to increase to 140 km/h in the next 24 hours.

Tomas is expected to track away from New Zealand but could bring slightly bigger seas to the North Island's east coast from Wednesday.

However, another cyclone, Ului, which is brewing northeast of Australia is causing concern. It could cause major damage to the Great Barrier Reef and bring high seas along Australia's east coast later next week.

Philip Duncan from Weatherwatch.co.nz says although Ului's weather system is still a week away from impacting on New Zealand, it is worth monitoring.

"When a storm forms in the Coral Sea we're always watching them very closely as they do tend to naturally progress towards New Zealand.

"It's in an area where it can grow into a monster category 5 storm and the only thing protecting New Zealand and this storm will be a high pressure system, so if the high weakens, the threat to New Zealand increases. This will be something to watch later next week, if not for New Zealand then certainly for north eastern Australia."

- NEWSTALK ZB