Wellington  - The flood-stricken Pacific island state of Fiji braced Tuesday for more torrential rains as another tropical depression was forecast to arrive later in the day, according to reports from the capital Suva.

A state of emergency has already been declared over wide areas of the main island Viti Levu, where three towns, including Nadi, site of the country's international airport, are under water and a night-time curfew is in place to prevent looting.

The official death toll has been updated to three, with four people listed as missing.

More than 9,000 people already forced to leave their flood-hit homes remained in evacuation centres, and hundreds of foreign tourists were trapped with roads and bridges washed out by four days of monsoon-like rains.

It is reported to be the worst flood in living memory to hit the island state of about 930,000 people.

With power and other utilities, including the public water supply, disrupted in many areas, health authorities have warned of a possible outbreak of typhoid, dengue fever and diarrhoea. dpa