In the time it took to wake her husband, the seeping floodwaters had crept several inches up Babita Mustafa's legs.
Babita Mustafa was caught in Nawaka Photo: RNZ Pacifc / Sally Round
It was five on Sunday morning and the water was rising quickly in Nawaka, a small settlement on a muddy back road near Nadi town.
"I couldn't save my things, my utensils, all my clothes."
The water rose to well above her slight frame, sweeping away her belongings and drenching the living room furniture which was now sitting on the roof drying in the sun.
Babita was resting on a chair outside her small hut, smiling and welcoming me in even though she had next to nothing left.
She moved to Nadi from Suva with her husband last year to be with their son. They are both unwell. She is a diabetic with only one kidney and he has had a stroke and has other ailments.
Like others in Nawaka, their son has built upwards to escape the floodwaters which so often engulf the villagers.
Many of the homes have a structure on top or shelves up high where they can shove their things when the waters rise.
Others are up high on stilts.
One family had even worked out a system of pulleys and ropes to heave things up close to the ceiling.
But ill health has kept Babita and her husband on the ground floor, although during the recent flood they fled to their son as soon as they could both get out.
"It was very scary and we started getting panicked," she said.
Nawaka settlement floods regularly. The residents have built on stilts or added rooms upstairs to cope with the floodwaters during cyclone season. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Sally Round
It was their first experience of flooding unlike others in the west where it is becoming the "new norm".
In under two weeks, Cyclone Josie and Cyclone Keni, interspersed with heavy rain has left towns inundated, roads impassable and power and water out.
The local branch of the Red Cross says the pressure is high and it has run low on supplies.
"Our volunteers are working tirelessly, " Nadi Branch President Titilia Valentine said.
"Most times they go without proper food or all the necessities they need."
Red Cross Operations Manager, Josh Koroisavou Photo: RNZ Pacific / Sally Round
"Back in the eighties, Nadi, the west used to be called 'the burning west'", Operations Manager Josh Koroisavou said.
"If you go around you see there are no gardens and drains were small, built on the prediction there'd be no rain.
"But with the changing weather pattern nowadays, they have to rearrange all that."
"We can only hope and pray for no more cyclones," Ms Valentine said.
"Two in a row is quite a lot for us to handle."
Furniture set out to dry on a roof in Nawaka Photo: RNZ Pacific / Sally Round
