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By PETER KORUGL
HEAVY rains have been wreaking havoc in Lae and in many parts of Morobe
since last month.
According to reports last weekend, four bridges have been swept away,
power supply cut off in Lae and roads washed away in many areas in one
of the worst wet seasons ever experienced in the province.
The Morobe disaster and emergency Service (MDES) said hundreds of people
in Finschhafen were cut off from Gagidu when floods washed away three
foot bridges and the Mindi bridge between Pindu and Gagidu last weekend.
MDES said a team would be flown into the affected areas today to assess
the situation for appropriate actions.
Reports from the districts also indicated that many creeks had
overflowed into the roads, while major rivers could burst their banks
should rains go on in the next few days.
In Lae, it was water everywhere as the Bumbu, Yalu and Busu rivers
threatened to burst their banks. The areas in Bumayong, Tent Siti, Igam,
East and West Taraka, Kamkumung and the Miles were under water.
A tour of Lae last weekend by The National found that the city roads had
also been flooded and were now h eavily potholed.
At the same time, PNG Power Ltd reported that its manpower was being
stretched to limits in trying to attend to calls from many parts of the
city where wind-battered trees fell on power lines.
“We are doing our best but in this rain, we can not do much. Our
resources are stretched. Some areas will just have to be in the dark,” a
PNG Power workman told The National as he and a colleague tried to clear
a huge tree that had fallen over power lines to restore electricity to a
portion of the Telikom Training College on Saturday.
According to measurements taken by the National Agriculture Research
Institute (NARI), the average rainfall last July alone was 339.4mm,
beating the average rainfall recorded for the 12 months of 2001, 2002,
2003 and 2004 in Lae.
NARI’s records showed that the average rainfall for the four year period
was 152.4mm (January), 121mm (February), 152.4mm (March), 124.8mm
(April), 99.9mm (May), 152mm (June), 171.2mm (July), 120mm (August),
92mm (September), 138.5mm (October), 184.7mm (November) and 173.2mm in
December.
In 2005, no rain was recorded in the first 10 months but in November,
Lae recorded an average of 397.8mm of rain, an all-time high, and
182.9mm in December.
Last year, the months of June, July, September and November recorded
average rainfall of 266.8mm, 223mm and 314mm and 210mm of rainfall
respectively.
For this month, a staggering 119.2mm of rain fell in Lae during the
first six days of rain, beating the average rainfall for the whole of
August last year at 116.6mm.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the rains in Morobe were due to
strong winds blowing up north from Australia which was experiencing
winter.
“Lae is right in the path of the strong winds blowing north from
Australia and this weather is expected to continue for sometime.”
Benjamin Malai of the NWS said the southern region, Morobe and West New
Britain would experience heavy rains and strong winds.
“We have already issued a strong warning to people out at sea in those
areas to be careful and rough seas are expected this time,” Mr Malai
said.
 
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