Severe Tropical Cyclone Val caused over US$300 million in damage and caused 17 deaths, as it impacted the
Cook Islands,
American Samoa,
Samoa,
Tokelau,
Tonga,
Tuvalu as well as
Wallis and Futuna. Some of these island nations were still recovering from the effects of
Severe Tropical Cyclone Ofa, which had impacted Polynesia less than two years earlier. Val's main impacts were to the
Samoan Islands, where it was responsible for 14 deaths and was considered to be the worst tropical cyclone to impact the islands since the
1889 Apia cyclone. As a result of the impact of this storm, the name Val was
retired from the tropical cyclone naming lists.
Western Samoa On December 6, the FMS issued a gale warning for Western Samoa, as it had become apparent that Val would impact the island nation, before issuing storm and hurricane warnings for the island as the system moved closer to the archipelago. During that day, northeasterly winds and high seas caused damage to coastal areas on both
Savaii and
Upolu, before the weather stations at
Apia and
Faleolo started to report that gale-force winds were occurring during December 7. The system made landfall on the island of
Savaii at about 18:00 UTC (07:00 SST) on December 7, where hurricane-force winds of up to and wind-gusts of up to were thought to have occurred. After the system had made landfall, Val started to move south-westwards and away from the Western Samoa, which prompted the FMS to forecast that winds over the islands would decrease over the islands during December 9. High seas impacting the territory caused at least one coastal village to be evacuated. During December 4, a strong wind warning was issued for the island nation of
Tokelau, after the system had developed into a tropical depression. A tropical cyclone alert was subsequently issued during the next day, as it was thought that the cyclone could pose a threat to the island nation as it moved eastwards. During December 6, the FMS issued a gale warning for the whole of Tokelau, before gale-force winds of up to were observed at
Atafu, as Val passed about to the south-west of the island nation. Squally conditions subsequently persisted over the islands for the next few days, with
Fakaofo recording gale-force winds during December 10, in association with a convective
rainband. Within the island nation, residents took refuge in a school building, while strong winds and high seas caused damage to homes and several uncompleted seawall structures, that were being installed following Ofa's impacts on the islands. The United Nations Development Programme subsequently funded a project between 1992 and 1995, which provided a limited reconstruction of the areas damaged by the cyclone. Total damages within the island nation were estimated at . During December 6, as the system moved southeastwards towards Samoa, the threat of gale-force or stronger winds developing over northern
Tonga and the island of
Wallis, within the
French Overseas Territory of
Wallis and Futuna increased. As a result, the FMS issued gale warnings for the islands of
Niuafoʻou,
Niuatoputapu and Wallis, while issuing a tropical cyclone alert for the rest of the Tongan islands. However, the warnings were cancelled during the next day, as the threat of gale-force or stronger winds developing over Wallis or northern Tonga had decreased. During December 8, after the system had made landfall on Savaii, Val started to move south-westwards and posed another threat to northern Tonga. As a result, a gale warning was reissued for Niuatoputapu, while the rest of Tonga was placed under a strong wind warning. A storm warning was subsequently issued for Niuatoputapu during December 9, after Val had produced gale-force winds over the island and moved closer to it. Storm-force winds of around were subsequently experienced on the island, while winds of below gale-force were experienced on Niuafoʻou. Wallis Island also did not experience any gale-force winds, however, some minor damage was reported on the island, after some minor flooding of coastal areas occurred. During December 10, the FMS issued a gale warning for Palmerston Island and a tropical cyclone alert for the rest of the
Southern Cook Islands, as Val accelerated south-eastwards and appeared to threaten the islands. However, the system subsequently moved more towards the south-southeast than had been expected and eventually passed around to the west of Palmerston Island. As a result, the Southern Cook Islands were spared any major damage from the system. However, gale- and storm-force winds were reported on the island during December 11, which were subsequently attributed to a convective
rainband and rain squalls that appeared on satellite imagery at the time. Gale-force winds were also reported over
Pukapuka and nearby islands in the
Northern Cook Islands during December 11. Within the Cook Islands, damages to crops and infrastructure were reported, with total damages estimated at $1 million NZD (US$544 thousand). The government of the Cook Islands also asked for money to repair a seawall. ==Aftermath==