Strong winds, floods and landslides on the agenda

THE National Weather Service has sent out warnings for strong winds, flooding and landslides to people living in Western and places affected by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake last year for rest of the month.
Director Samuel Maiha said continuous rainfall had increased water on the ground in all of Western and small amounts of rainfall could cause major flooding and landslides.
The warnings are for next week.
He warned that ships and boats travelling between Western and Gulf would encounter strong winds.
“The wind is surging at 25 to 48 knots at a rate of 50 to 100km per hour,” Maiha said.
“Winds are causing rough seas. We are in the peak period of strong winds and heavy rain which will cause flood and landslides in the lowlands and highlands.”
“The Rabaul Queen went down in rough seas on Feb 2, 2012, – during the monsoon season – and at least 172 people were presumed dead.
Maiha said Papua New Guinea was facing a similar monsoon season currently and people needed to take heed of the warnings given and alerts to take necessary action.
He said rain was expected to continue into the next month.