An Aussie couple's amateur video from their resort in Fiji.
UPDATE: CYCLONE Evan has left a trail of devastation in Samoa and Fiji and is heading towards New Zealand.
Fiji was battered by ferocious 270km/h winds overnight, which uprooted trees and homes, ripped roofs off buildings and caused widespread power and water outages.
The Fiji Meteorological Service says the cyclone is tracking away from Fiji in a south-southwest direction.
Flights to and from Fiji are expected to resume later today.
About 2100 Aussies were stranded in Fiji when the cyclone hit, with their holiday plans in tatters.
Destruction at the Sheraton.
Police were restricting the movement of people in and out of main towns and cities to ensure public safety, the Fiji Times reported.
Australian couple Joanne Foster and Brendon Taylor captured the aftermath of the cyclone at their resort Radisson Blu, and the neighbouring Sheraton, on Denarau Island.
Ms Foster, of Brisbane, said Sheraton guests were helping in the clean-up efforts but they had been told to refrain due to safety concerns.
Cyclone Evan has ripped through Fiji with flooding and structural damage.
"There's a lot of vegetation strewn around and some palm trees have snapped in half,'' she said.
"There's a lot of damage and a lot of work to be done. But it's not as bad here in the resorts with the concrete buildings as it would be in the villages."
The cyclone earlier battered Samoa, leaving four dead, and a New Zealand Air Force Orion is continuing to search for 10 fishermen from four boats who are still missing.
There have been no reports of deaths overnight.
Wild winds whip through the trees near the Radisson.
Fiji's second-biggest city Lautoka, near the international airport at Nadi, was severely battered by the cyclone, with resident Janet Mason telling Radio New Zealand that an empty house had "flown through the air" and landed beside hers.
With winds stirring up massive swells, two ships ran aground near the entrance to Suva Harbour, The New Zealand Herald reported.
Cyclone Evan is expected to pass within kilometres of NZ's northern North Island over the weekend, by which time it is unlikely to be a tropical cyclone - "but this is by no means certain", MetService chief forecaster Peter Kreft said.
"We're very conscious of the possibility of a track which takes Evan near East Cape. This would be a totally different ball game."
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the Government had received a formal request for help from Fiji.
"We're in the process of working through that this morning," he said in a television interview on local station TV3.
Cyclone Evan has hit Fiji with strong winds and rain causing damage and destruction. Paul Chapman reports.
"The same is true with Samoa - we're working through an assessment of the damage and where we might best be able to help".
Adelaide man Inoke Buliruarua, 28, who's family are still in Fiji has been trying to call his mother since the cyclone hit.
"The network and the power over there is all down so I can't even speak to them,'' he said.
"My mum and my three sisters live where the hurricane hit yesterday and I tried to call them but I can't get through.
The managing director of a small resort in Fiji describes what it's like being stranded as a category four cyclone passes through.
"Hopefully they're ok.''
Mr Buliruarua said his family had planned to move into an evacuation centre.
"I was speaking to them on the weekend. They were still getting everything ready before it hit them and they had an evacuation centre where they had to move,'' he said.
"One of my family messaged me on Facebook and said that's the worst hurricane they've been through since 20 years ago.''
The pool area of the Radisson.
Geelong newlyweds Ben and Nicole Gargan, at the Hilton resort on Denarau Island, were among the Australian tourists bunkering down.
It is the same hotel where Mr Gargan's brother, Troy, and his wife honeymooned earlier this year and also had bad luck with the weather, with some of the worst flooding the country had seen.
"I stayed in the same place in April and went through the floods ... now Ben is there with the cyclone approaching," Troy said yesterday.
"He said they were in lockdown, but the hotel had plenty of supplies."
Tropical cyclone Evan is moving away from Fiji after battering the island nation with 200km/h winds.
Melbourne man Luke Dickens, working on Kia Island, moved into his neighbour's home after his traditional palm hut was unable to withstand the fury.
"The wind was really intense and the whole house was shaking," he said.
"We had already moved out when the neighbour's roof took off and flew into our place, taking off our roof - it was a huge bang."
Holidaying Australian couple Joanne Foster, 37, and Brendon Taylor, 42, were also forced into lockdown at their hotel.
"Things are really angry outside, even on our balcony the wind knocked us off our feet," Ms Foster said yesterday.
The shoreline is lashed during Tropical Cyclone Evan in Suva, Fiji. Picture: AFP
The Federal Government has offered to assist Fiji if required, with civilian specialists on standby.
The High Commission sent a warning SMS to about 2100 Australians registered with the Government as being in Fiji, but DFAT said this figure was conservative.
Local police imposed a curfew across the island from 7pm yesterday following wind gusts of up to 200km/h as the cyclone passed within 30km of the town and airport of Nadi.
Australian Joanne Foster who is holidaying in Fiji with partner Brendon Taylor were in their Raddison Blu hotel room when the eye passed at around 8.15pm and said it was an eerie feeling.
Local resident Pita Turgagaviti clears away branches from a tree that collapsed on top of a car shelter outside a house in Laucala Bay Rd near Suva as monster Cyclone Evan threatened the Pacific nation. Picture: AFP
Earlier the couple had witnessed trees uprooted by winds outside their Raddison Blu hotelroom and Miss Foster worried for locals in evacuation shelters.
"At least we are safe,'' she wrote to the Herald Sun.
"Praying for all residents and visitors to Fiji remain safe and unharmed.''
- with AAP, Danae Dimitropoulos, Nathan Hale and Alex White
Residents take shelter at an evacuation centre during Tropical Cyclone Evan in Suva. Picture: AFP
WATCH the view from a hotel room on Denarau Island in Fiji as Brisbane couple Joanne Foster and Brendon Taylor wait for the cyclone to hit
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