Photos of the South Pacific archipelago ofVanuatu document the utter devastation the islands faceafter category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam tore through late last week. Wind estimates suggest Port Vila sustained gusts up to 90 mph, while some Vanuatu islands sawgustsof190 mph.

At least eight people have been confirmed dead in Vanuatu on Monday morning a number that officials expect to rise over the coming days as rescuers and relief organizationsreach the more remote island locations.

Pam is by far the most destructive cyclone the tiny island nation has ever faced. At its peak, the tropical cyclone had sustained winds of 165 mph, with gusts close to 200 mph. The Fiji Meteorological Service estimated that Pams central pressure sank to an incredibly low 896 millibars the second lowest pressure in a cyclone on record in the South Pacific.

According to Weather Undergrounds director of meteorology, Jeff Masters, Pam was just the secondcategory 5 cyclone to thrash a populated South Pacific island. The only other Category 5 landfall event among the nine other Category 5 storms to affect these waters since 1970 was by the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the basin,Cyclone Zoe of 2002, writes Masters. Zoe made a direct hit as a Category 5 storm on several small islands in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands with a total population of 1,700.

Vanuatu's president says some 90 percent of the buildings in the capital sit damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Pam. (AP)

Scientists at Tropical Storm Risk have analyzed Pams destructive wind field to create an estimated wind gust swath along the cyclones path.The analysis is a real-time estimate that employs wind radius data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in combination with an analytical model to arrive at peak, 3-second wind gusts.

Looking at these estimates, its not difficult to understandhow Tropical Cyclone Pam ravaged three small islands of Vanuatu: Efatehome to the capital of Port Vila Erromango, and Tanna.

The worksuggests that Port Vila endured wind gusts of 80 to 90 mph as Tropical Cyclone Pam tracked south through the islands on Friday. The BBCsJon Donnisondocumented the damage he saw in the capital city:

The sense of devastation is absolutely immense and when you land it doesnt take long for that sense of devastation to increase.

Many family homes have been stripped of their roofs or flattened by very powerful winds and torrential rain.

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Weather Gang: Wind analysis, photos chronicle monster cyclone Pams devastation in Vanuatu