 Cyclone Ofa had a major impact on Tuvalu in late January and early February 1990.George Westbrook, a trader on Funafuti, recorded a cyclone that struck on 23–24 December 1883.At the time the cyclone struck he was the sole inhabitant of Funafuti as Tema, the Samoan missionary had taken everyone else to Funafala to work on erecting a church.