Heavy flooding caused by Cyclone Guba has reportedly killed more than 70 people in Papua New Guinea.

More than 70 people are reported to have been killed in Papua New Guinea because of heavy flooding caused by Cyclone Guba.

Seven consecutive days of heavy rain left a trail of destruction in Oro Province, north of Port Moresby.

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Seven consecutive days of heavy rain left a trail of destruction in Oro Province.


The death toll has increased dramatically since Friday evening from three to at least 71, with another 55 people missing.

Reports from the provincial capital Popendetta claim the town is like an island with roads and bridges to the airport and main wharf destroyed.

Disaster officials are still assessing the damage and fear more deaths could occur if the thousands of people displaced by the rains are not helped soon.

Eyewitness reports

Reverend Glenn Buijs is an Anglican Minister visiting Papua New Guinea.

He has told the Australia Network he rushed to a low lying village early this morning after the cyclone hit, and found a scene of devastation.

"There were lots of logs and debris that had come down from the hills in the river that had been washed out to the sea, and by the time we got to the school, and the village near the school, they had been totally annihilated," he said.

"The villages were under probably 2.5 to 3 metres of logs, which would have stretched a kilometre or more."

He says the toll is probably a lot higher than believed.

"There were a number of huts where it was just the roof sticking above the debris and we tried to climb in and have a look," he said.

"At that stage we were told that a number of people had been swept away.

"We knew of at least one woman who'd come into the hospital with a broken arm - she'd been rescued trapped under a house, and her husband and two children had been washed away."