The Papua New Guinea National Weather Services (PNG NWS) has maintained strong wind and gale warnings across most parts of the country following very strong winds and
widespread rainfall experienced over the past two weeks.
Assistant Director for Forecasting and Warning, Benjamin Malai, said the warnings were issued after winds intensified across the country, including Port Moresby. Read more: https://www.nbc.com.pg/post/31314/tropical-low-brings-strong-winds-and-heavy-rain-warnings-for-southern-png
“With respect to the weather, you would have known in the last couple of weeks, winds have been very, very strong. We live in Port Moresby. We have experienced this,” Mr Malai told our reporter.
He said substantial rainfall has also been recorded throughout the country, prompting the National Weather Service to maintain strong wind warnings over the past two weeks and to initiate gale warnings last week.
“There are two categories of winds. One we refer to as strong winds. That is 25 to 34 knots. The other is gale, a little bit stronger. That’s about 35 knots to 50 knots,” he said.
Mr Malai said these winds have battered most parts of Papua New Guinea over the last five days.
“Right now, we have gale warnings covering most parts of the southern region, including the Sepiks, that is West and East Sepik, Manus and West New Britain,” he said.
He said Bougainville and New Ireland are currently under strong wind warnings, while the rest of Papua New Guinea remains under gale warnings.
“Indirectly through those warnings, we would expect people to take necessary precautions,” Mr Malai said.
He warned coastal and island communities to avoid travelling by sea while gale warnings are in force.
“For coastal dwellers, especially people living around the coast and islands, when we issue warnings, especially during this time where we have gale warning in force, we would expect people not to go out to sea,” he said.
“For strong winds, people can go out to sea. For gale winds, it is a little bit dangerous to go out to sea. You can get boats capsizing and people can lose lives.”
He also warned people living in the Highlands and flat plains to remain alert during periods of heavy rainfall.
“For highlands and flat plains, we would advise people to keep away from big rivers, even small streams as well. When you have very heavy rainfall in a short period of time, that can cause flash flooding,” he said.
Mr Malai said the gale warnings for the northern part of the country are expected to ease off after Thursday, with strong wind warnings remaining.
“For the northern parts of Papua New Guinea, we may cancel gale warnings, but we will still maintain strong warnings,” he said.
“For the southern part of Papua New Guinea, after Friday, we have a weather system developing just northeast of Cairns, and that will bring more gale into the southern part of Papua New Guinea, especially Western Province, Gulf and Central,” he said.
He said rainfall will continue until after April, but conditions will vary due to different microclimates across the country.
“Not every part of Papua New Guinea is raining very heavily. Some parts will be raining very heavily, some parts will not rain at all,” he said.
He said the warnings also affect air and sea travel, with pilots and transport operators required to make safety decisions during bad weather.
Malai said the National Weather Service also issued specific warnings advising people not to travel by dinghy between Manus, the Sepiks, Madang and New Britain from Tuesday to Thursday.
“If any boats, the dinghies, decide to make the trip between these three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, there is a higher probability that those people will lose their lives,” he said.
He said reports have been received of fallen trees, power outages in Lorengau, damaged houses in the outer islands of Manus, missing boats in New Britain, both East and West.
He said wind gusts, which are sudden bursts of wind about 50 percent stronger than prevailing winds, are particularly dangerous.
“Those are the real winds that cause problems for infrastructure and other disasters,” Mr Malai told PNG SUN.
He urged the public to take all warnings seriously and follow safety advice issued by the National Weather Service.