Floods hit city businesses

LOCAL business houses, city residents and market vendors lost business and other valuable items worth thousands of kina following Tuesday’s period of heavy rainfall in Port Moresby.
The Puma Energy service station outlet at Waterfront in Konedobu was among others that lost up to K100,000 worth of store items and supplies after closing its services to the public yesterday due to the heavy downpour of the previous day.
Puma Waterfront branch manager Sandrell Tabu said the outlet was unable to supply fuel to motorists and open to public after flood waters as high as one-metre in the Konedobu area.
“The flood waters reached as high as the third shelves and destroyed or damaged everything on lower shelves while the entire fuel station was covered with rainwater following the heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon,” she said.
“We normally sell 19,000 litres to 20,000 litres of fuel a day to motorists including to our fuel-card customers which is worth up to about K80,000 or K90,000, and that’s been lost.”
Tabu said the outlet also lost about K6,000 worth of store goods and items to floodwaters.
“We are unable to operate today because the flood has destroyed everything,” she said.
Tabu said once the Puma maintenance team assessed the site to ensure the fuel was safe, they would resume normal operation.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) PNG clinic administration manager Karen Swale, the area at the clinic in Waigani had flooded from Tuesday’s heavy rain.
“Our hard working staff that reside at our clinic spent the night saving the shelter animals from drowning, and all the stock and equipment to a higher level,” she said.
“With all of their effort, our clinic still suffered a huge loss in pet food supplies and new equipment was damaged beyond repair.”
In another incident, market vendors at Gordon were also unable to sell their garden foods and supplies after the market management closed the market.
Vender Dorothy Thomas from Western Highlands said she was unable to sell her fruits and vegetables after the market was closed due to floodwater in the market area. She said her supplies worth up to K4,000 would be lost.
“I use to buy my supplies in bulk from Mekeo, Rigo and other places along the Magi Highway to resell here,” she said.
“I am afraid because I do not know how long I would keep them.”
Meanwhile, about 16 houses with up to 60 family members at Hagwa in Hanuabada’s Gabi village had lost their household and personal items to floodwaters.
“We have not experienced such incidents over the last 40 years,” community spokesman Romeo Peter told The National.
“Most of our cooking utensils and household items including electrical applicances were destroyed.”
Peter urged National Capital District Commission (NCDC) and Moresby North-West district development authority and Motu Koita Assembly to assist the victims following the flooding.

Public urged to avoid floodwaters

ST JOHN Ambulance chief executive officer Matt Cannon has called on city residents to stay away from fast flowing floodwaters after a heavy downfall.
His comments followed a circulated video on social media showing fast flowing floodwaters at the Hubert Murray Stadium during the heavy downfall on Tuesday.
“We are advising people to stay away from floodwaters and do not swim nor walk in this rainy season,” he said.
Cannon said the flood carried large objects that could strike a person, which might cause unconsciousness or a person could get caught in a dangerous pipe and sucked down a drain.

Central, city blackout for over 4 hours

PORT Moresby and Central experienced total power outage for more than four hours on Tuesday.
PNG Power Ltd posted on its Facebook page: “Our technical teams have been dispatched to various substations to restore power however, the teams cannot make it on time due to heavy downpour and traffic congestion around the city.”
Power was restored to some areas around 10pm while some residents in Waigani and Rainbow areas reported that power was restored around 2am yesterday (Wednesday).
When asked by The National on the cause of the outage, PNG Power said they will send a brief report.