7 Apr 2014

Estimates of missing after Solomons' flood put as high as 80

3:30 pm on 7 April 2014

There are predictions in Solomon Islands the number of people killed in last week's floods could reach 100.

The official death toll is still 21 but with the sun out today the search for victims has been stepping up.

Our correspondent, Dorothy Wickham, says as many as eighty others may still be missing.

But she says it will be difficult establishing the correct numbers.

"We have a lot of illegal settlements around Honiara and that is one of the reasons why it is very difficult to pin down numbers at this point. And we are not very good with statistics, as you know. I don't think our last census was very accurate either. And it is going to have to come back to each family member to come forward and say 'we've got this number of people missing -we had so many people in our house on that day and on that hour. You know we have got people moving in from the provinces on a daily basis here so it is going to be difficult to pin down numbers."

Our correspondent in Solomon Islands Dorothy Wickham