A satellite image shows Cyclone Pam churning just off the eastern coast of the Vanuatu islands in the Pacific Ocean, at 6:14 a.m. GMT, March 13, 2015. NOAA

WELLNGTON, New Zealand -- The small Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu on Friday issued a red alert to its residents and urged them to take shelter as it braces for Cyclone Pam, which was expected to graze the islands with winds of 115 miles per hour.

Authorities feared the category-5 cyclone would destroy homes as well as cause landslides and severe coastal flooding. The full impact was expected to be felt in the capital Port Vila late Friday.

The cyclone has already destroyed homes and caused damage to other Pacific islands including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

David Gibson, acting director of the Vanuatu meteorology and geo-hazards department, said Pam was packing maximum sustained winds of 143 mp) at its center, which was expected to pass out to sea just east of the capital.

He said if the winds were as strong as his department predicts, they would cause severe damage to buildings.

Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for relief agency UNICEF who is in Port Vila, said the capital was like a ghost town as people took shelter. She said the rain was pelting down and coming in horizontally with the wind.

"The weather has been getting progressively worse for the last two-and-a-half days," she said. "They've put the deck chairs at the hotel I'm staying at into the swimming pool to stop them blowing away. It's quite surreal."

She said many people in Vanuatu live in flimsy shelters, especially those on the more remote outer islands. She said those people were in an extremely vulnerable situation.

She said she expected a huge cleanup and urgent medical needs after the storm passes. Priorities would include making sure drinking water supplies were safe, she said, and ensuring children can get back to schools.

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Huge cyclone bears down on tiny nation of Vanuatu