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NEWS SPECIAL
FIVE WEEKS OF FURY
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CYCLONE PERCY
The impact of  Percy - the fourth cyclone in as many weeks - is still being felt deeply on the remote  Northern Group islands of Nassau and Pukapuka.  They received an almost direct hit when the cyclone was at its strongest.  It was classified at the time as a category 4 to 5 cyclone on a scale where 5 is the most severe. 

CYCLONE RAE
When cyclone number five - Cyclone Rae - formed, it looked like the Cook Islands were in for another battering.  This time though, it quickly lost strength, was downgraded to a tropical storm and then moved out into the Pacific.  It passed 172 miles south west of the capital island of Rarotonga, causing only intermittent gales and squalls.  But a couple in Arorangi had their house destroyed by a waterspout 2 hours after the cyclone warnings were cancelled.
The destruction caused to Pukapuka by Cyclone Percy.  These photographs were taken by the crew of a New Zealand Air Force Orion which overflew the island a few days after the cyclone struck. 
The remoteness of the islands means that reports from them are few and far between.  Television New Zealand is the only broadcaster to have visited Pukapuka in the aftermath.  These pictures are taken from that report.
Only 10 per cent of houses on Pukapuka survived intact.  Traditional homes were washed away.   On Nassau, 90 per cent of the modern structures were damaged; most, if not all thatched buildings were destroyed.   A  concerted efforts is now underway to rebuild.  But according to New Zealand's Deputy High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Matthew Patterson the work on  Pukapuka alone will take years to complete.
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