Continued heavy rain and and strong winds in Solomon Islands could lead to more flash flooding and possible landslides over the next few days.
The country's met service has issued further heavy rain warnings and advised all locals to stay indoors while warnings were in place.
Photo: Rifilia Alex
Director David Hiba said locals should take caution if needing to travel between islands as strong winds will affect the seas.
Mr Hiba said the weather through the weekend was expected to be rough.
He said constant rain over the last two weeks meant the risk of landslides was very high.
"We have seen that during heavy rain events, landslide is one of the big issues," Mr Hiba said.
"So basically we are asking people to stay indoors or remain at home, especially people trying to travel across from island to island."
Mr Hiba said he expected the current weather warning to be in place until early next week.
Several rivers had already burst their banks and swept through villages.
Both the Kwaibaita and Betikama rivers flooded and destroyed food gardens and crops.
Villages in the area also fear their drinking water had been contaminated.
Mr Hiba said the Ngalibiu river had swept through villages as well.
"We've had major flooding in some of the rivers, especially on the bigger islands from the New year's night," he said.
The National Disaster Management Office was still collecting damage reports from across the islands.
Photo: Rifilia Alex
PNG Weather Service issues warning of landslides, flooding
Papua New Guinea's National Weather Service is warning there will be heavy landslides and flooding this week across the country.
In a statement to the Post Courier, the service says strong winds and rain are causing havoc in villages and towns along the Southern coast and will continue.
The National Weather Service says Western, Gulf, Central and Milne Bay provinces can expect strong winds and rough seas over the next day.
The landslides and flooding are expected to hit West New Britain province worst.
Airlines, shipping vessels and other travellers in PNG are advised to take precautions over the next five days.