Tropical cyclone Maila is now a category 5 tropical cyclone with guarantee catastrophic devastation in areas is passes through.

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Weather Service (NWS) this morning issued another notice stating that sever tropical cyclone Maila category 5 warning is current for the Milne Bay province especially the coastal and island communities of Woodlark, Sudest, Misima and Rossel Islands, and also for Bougainville.

People are advised to stay away from the edge of the sea and seek higher grounds until the cyclone threat passes.

“Sever tropical cyclone Maila will cause very heavy rain and flooding, storm surge, coastal inundation, gale force winds, storm force winds and hurricane force winds,” the NWS stated.

It is advisable that people in the impacted areas, on the path of tropical cyclone Maila, should not be going out to sea at this time, avoid flooded rivers, be careful of fallen trees, powerline and landslides. Safety is priority at this time.