IT’S the time of the year that coastal communities near Auki Township in Malaita Province feel the direct effect of climate change with abnormal king tides hitting them again.
Reports reaching Solomon Star Auki claimed that communities along the Auki Township coastal area over the past days have complained about abnormal tides reaching shore levels never reached before.
Nearby communities of Molou and Lilisiana this week have experienced huge tides which covered kitchens and denied some families a place to cook their daily meals.
According to locals, the king tides usually happen twice a year and this year it came earlier and it was surprising too that the tides have reached new shore levels, threatening the daily lives of people.
One local told Solomon Star Auki that they are living in fear, knowing that one day their community will be submerged, leaving them homeless.
Knowing that king tides have reached new shore levels every time they comes, he said the chances for their community going under water in the years to come is possible and he predicts it will be not far from now.
An elderly person spoken to said Lilisiana community has changed a lot in the past three decades, adding that the new generation will find it difficult to cope with the rate at which the sea continues to erode its shoreline.
Many communities in the Langa Langa Lagoon and coastal areas are also faced with similar climate change challenges as experienced by the Lilisiana and Molou communities.
By WILSON SAENI in Auki
