Landslide rumbles through houses, gardens, roads

National

HEAVY rain and flooding in Mt Hagen on Friday caused a landslide which destroyed several homes and food gardens, besides roads and bridges.
The rain which started at around 2pm lasted six hours, destroying property and houses, impacting the people at Hagen Kofi.
Nine people escaped serious injury and death when their home was covered by flood waters.
Victim Benson Undi said the flood came into their house where the young men were sleeping but they managed to escape.
He said his houses and properties were destroyed and buried by a landslide.
“We could not sleep, all our belongings were swept away by the flood and then our two houses were destroyed by landslide.” Undi said it was their first time to experience such a disaster and it would greatly affect them when they started to rebuild their homes and worked to replant their food gardens.
He said his children’s schooling would be impacted as they did not have a home and much of their school books and clothes had been destroyed.
Hagen Kofi community leader and member of the Western Highlands provincial community policing, Nep Kala, said many people living along the river banks were affected as well.
He said Undi and his family had lost most of their belongings in the flood and would suffer for a long time. Kala said people living along the Garimp River could face a similar threat.