0 0 ▁in ▁the ▁island ' s ▁largest ▁city , ▁and ▁much ▁of ▁the ▁nation ' s ▁agricult ure ▁were ▁destroyed . ▁W inds ▁in ▁excess ▁of ▁ 1 8 5   km / h ▁( 1 1 5   m ph ) ▁batter ed ▁V ava ' u , ▁def oli ating ▁nearly ▁every ▁tree ▁on ▁the ▁island . ▁In ▁addition ▁to ▁infrastr uct ural ▁and ▁public ▁losses , ▁the ▁environment ▁was ▁also ▁sever ely ▁affected ; ▁a ▁native ▁species ▁of ▁bat ▁lost ▁roughly ▁ 8 0 % ▁of ▁its ▁population ▁due ▁to ▁the ▁lack ▁of ▁fruit . ▁Following ▁the ▁storm , ▁T ong a ▁requested ▁international ▁aid ▁to ▁co pe ▁with ▁the ▁scale ▁of ▁damage . ▁Due ▁to ▁the ▁sever ity ▁of ▁damage , ▁the ▁name ▁W aka ▁was ▁later ▁retired ▁and ▁replaced ▁with ▁Wik i . ▁According ▁to ▁a ▁study ▁by ▁Jan et ▁Franklin ▁et ▁al ., ▁storm s ▁similar ▁in ▁intensity ▁to ▁W aka , ▁on ▁average , ▁strike ▁T ong a ▁once ▁every ▁ 3 3   year s . ▁ ▁Meteor ological ▁history ▁ ▁In ▁mid - Dec ember ▁ 2 0 0 1 , ▁at ▁the ▁end ▁of ▁a ▁Mad den – Jul ian ▁oscill ation ▁pul se , ▁tw in ▁equ atorial ▁mon so onal ▁tr ough s ▁developed ▁in ▁the ▁Northern ▁and ▁Southern ▁Hem is pher es . ▁Although ▁warm ▁sea ▁surface ▁temper atures ▁of ▁ ▁in ▁the ▁region ▁fav ored ▁development ▁of ▁a ▁tropical ▁cy clone , ▁the ▁southern ▁tr ough ▁developed ▁substantial