A king tide caused destruction in parts of Papua New Guinea on Monday washing away houses and submerging some areas.
According to PNG's Post Courier Online, the tide 'swept the east coast of New Ireland Province and island communities' and confirmed affected areas 'were the expanse of villages from Kara-Nalik to Namatanai district and an island in the Mussau Group is believed to be submerged'.'A health centre at Bol village was destroyed and up to 50 houses washed away at Konos, Bulu, Bungbue, Kalangan and Silom villages in Namatanai and Tench islanders in the Mussau group were standing knee-deep in sea water'.
According to New Ireland disaster officer co-ordinator, Elsie Wambun, 'the rise in sea level which started around 11pm on Monday night had caused extensive destruction to
villagers along the east coast of the Central New Ireland mainland' and that 'they had put out a provincial alert for people in the affected areas to move inland'.
The report states that 'according to people on the ground, 'there was an unconfirmed large number of houses along the Buluminski Highway that were either washed away or flattened by rising sea' and 'all houses built within the beach-front were reported to have been affected'.
'A mother of twins at Madina village was still in a state of shock when the Post-Courier contacted her at Karau around midday', saying that 'it all happened so fast around 7am yesterday when the sea level suddenly rose to unexpected heights to bulldoze its way through the home 20m from the beach-front' and 'by midday yesterday everyone in their village and nearby Panabuk were sitting on the road-side with whatever cargo they could
salvage during that short time'.