Fiji begins clean-up as flood waters started to recede in Fiji on Thursday and authorities began counting the cost of the week-long disaster which killed 11 people and caused devastation costing tens of millions of dollars.

Waters were receding in many areas of the South Pacific nation on Thursday, although more heavy rain is forecast for Fiji in the days ahead.

The death toll since the floods started on Friday last week reached 11, including people swept away by swollen rivers and several caught in landslides.

Fiji’s principal disaster management officer, Joji Satakala, said some people were ignoring advice to seek refuge on higher ground and some had lost their lives because of ‘carelessness and ignorance’.

The National Disaster Management Office said on Thursday a total of 9,791 people had sought refuge in evacuation centres, two-thirds of them in the hardest hit region in the west of the main island of Viti Levu.

There have been complaints that food and other emergency supplies have not been reaching some evacuation centres, some of which are inaccessible by road.

The cost of damage from the floods – excluding agriculture – has been estimated at nearly 32 million Fiji dollars (S$26.9 million)) by the NDMO after the floods destroyed or damaged bridges, ripped up roads and cut power and water supplies.

Fiji’s Sugar Cane Growers Council has estimated losses worth tens of millions of dollars to the country’s most important agricultural industry.

The key tourism industry has also been hit after thousands of tourists suffered disrupted holidays and many others cancelled trips to the country’s resorts.

Extra flights were put on this week for tourists wanting to leave although some had been unable to leave their resorts because of flooding in the area around the country’s international airport at Nadi.

Nadi was one of the worst affected towns in Viti Levu’s west, where the government imposed a state of emergency and introduced curfews in key towns.

Although flood waters had receded in most parts of Nadi by Thursday, most of the town was without water or power and businesses remained closed after being inundated at the weekend.

Muddy water still covered low lying areas of Ba and Lautoka towns in Viti Levu’s west as well as Labasa on the northern island of Vanua Levu.

Fiji Meteorological Service director Rajendra Prasad said rain had become more scattered on Thursday, although occasional heavy rain was expected to continue into Friday. Heavy rainfalls were forecast to return to the western region by Saturday.