A powerful cyclone battered Fiji's northern islands Monday, damaging homes and crops as thousands of people fled to evacuation centers, officials said.

Cyclone Tomas was classified as a category-four cyclone – the second-most destructive on a five-point scale – and was packing winds averaging up to 175 kilometers an hour, the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) said.

There were no early reports of casualties, although reports said one woman drowned over the weekend in stormy seas.

The cyclone was expected to intensify later Monday and into early Tuesday, with average wind speeds rising to 200 kilometers an hour, and gusts of up to 270 kilometers an hour.

Fiji Disaster Management Office Director Pajiliai Dobui said about 5,000 people were moved into evacuation centers in the northern part of the country, especially on the second-largest island of Vanua Levu.

Officials said communications had been lost with smaller islands closer to the eye of the cyclone.

There were reports of damage to homes, other buildings and crops, and Vanua Levu was without power on Monday.

The capital Suva was eerily quiet, with government offices, schools and many businesses closed and traffic reduced to a trickle.

Airlines cancelled international flights Monday in and out of Fiji's international airport at Nadi, in the west of Viti Levu.

-AFP/NOWLebanon