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By PETER KORUGL
TWO people are dead, 12,000 others
affected and infrastructure worth thousands of kina were either damaged
or threatened by floods and landslides in Morobe, according to reports
yesterday.
Initial reports indicated that three major rivers burst their banks.
The fatalities occurred when two men were swept away by floodwaters,
while an entire Bailey bridge and four foot bridges were not spared the
fury of the foaming floodwaters.
Two other bridges over the Busu River were under threat of being washed
away.
One of the dead was swept away by floodwaters last Friday by the
flooding Buhemg River and the other the next day by the Mape River in
the Finschhafen district.
“One was trying to cross the river with his brother when he was swept
away. The other was an Engan man who was employed as a security guard
with a local company,” chairman of the Provincial Disaster and Emergency
Committee and provincial administrator Manasupe Zurenuoc said yesterday.
The floodwaters from the Buhemg River also swept through the large
Bukawa village, sending the frightened villagers to higher grounds for
safety.
The flooding Busu River was also threatening to take away the Busu
Bridge, linking Boana, and the Sangkwanp Bridge.
“Works engineers were monitoring the situation and trying to work out a
way to divert the flood waters and save the bridges,” Mr Zurenuoc said,
adding that it would cost over a million kina to rebuild the damaged
infrastructure.
He said engineers were also working out how the flooding Bumbu River in
Lae would be diverted to save residences at Admin Compound which were
threatened by the floodwaters.
Those affected include students from the Pindu High School and villagers
in the outskirts of Pindu who have lost food gardens and cash crops to
landslides and the floods.
Travel between Finschhafen and Pindu was cut off completely not only
because of the destruction of the Mongi Bridge but 38 landslips were
counted on the road linking the two government centres.
Mr Zurenuoc said an assessment team, comprising officials from the Works
Department and the Disaster and Emergency Service would fly in today to
assess the destruction, and not yesterday because of poor weather.
“We will also charter a plane to fly in rations for students at the
Pindu High School so I want the students not to panic,” Mr Zurenuoc
said.
He said the Pindu/Finschhafen road was being redeveloped with a World
Bank funding but the work had been stalled because of the extensive
damages done by the elements.
Mr Zurenuoc said reports also indicate that staff houses at the Lutheran
church- run Wagezaring Health Centre were also damaged by landslides.
Morobe has been bombarded with incessant heavy rain that began last
month.
According to measurements taken by the National Agriculture Research
Institute (NARI), the average rainfall in July alone was 339.4mm,
beating the average rainfall recorded for the 12 months of 2001, 2002,
2003 and 2004 for Lae.
For this month, 119.2mm of rain fell in Lae in the first six days,
clearly beating the average rainfall for whole of August last year which
was 116.6mm.
The rain was concentrated heavily in the Huon Peninsula area but
affecting parts of the Huon Gulf as Buang was cut off from Lae because
its only road was under water.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the rain was due to the strong
winds blowing up north from Australia, which was in experiencing its
winter season.
“Lae is right in the path of the strong winds blowing north from
Australia and this weather is expected to continue for sometime.
Mr Zurenuoc said because of this, people in the affected areas should
take heed of the warnings issued by the NWS and his office.
 
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