 Cyclone Rewa affected Papua New Guinea on two separate occasions while it was active, with the cyclone first affecting the archipelago between 28 December and 1 January, before grazing the archipelago between 12-14 January. Before Rewa affected the country, cyclone alerts and warnings were issued for Sudest, Rossel and Samarai islands, while authorities urged people not to go to beaches. As it affected the archipelago, Rewa brought heavy rainfall, high seas, and wind gusts of up to 100 km / h (60 mph) to parts of the archipelago including Sudest, Rossel and Samarai islands. The hardest hit areas were communities near major river systems, with the cyclone blocking roads, destroying a church, bridges, homes and gardens with vital crops such as coffee and copra destroyed. In total, Cyclone Rewa left around 3500 people homeless and caused 17 deaths, 8 of which were due to flooding. Nine other people went missing while travelling to Rossel Island after their boat was caught up in high seas associated with Rewa. They were later presumed dead by the National Disaster and Emergency Service, after a local search and rescue mission found wreckage of the boat. At 00: 00 UTC on 30 December, the automatic weather station at Jingo on Rossel island recorded a maximum sustained wind of 55 km / h (35 mph).
