By Sasha Pei-Silovo – EM TV, Port Moresby
The severe weather patterns felt throughout the Pacific region are expected to continue, with predictions of the worst having yet to come.
It’s being called the “Godzilla” El Niño, tracking as one of the strongest experienced to date, with the climate pattern causing havoc everywhere it has reached.
With the onset of severe dry conditions, Papua New Guinean’s are battling drought and frost with an increased risk of bush fires.
Heganofi, in the Eastern Highlands Province recorded a series of bush fires that blazed through houses, leaving families homeless.
PNG’s nearest neighbour, Australia, is now sounding the alarm for an expected outbreak of bushfires in the coming months.
According to the Bushfires and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, southern Australia is faced with “above normal fire potential for the 2015-16 fire season.”
So far, parts of Northern Territory and Far North Queensland have been affected most by the El Niño.
Meteorologists say that the peak of the El Niño is yet to be felt.
