Summary
Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila peaked as a Category 5 system and notably developed, intensified and subsequently weakened all while located within the Solomon Sea. Maila may be the strongest system on record in the Solomon Sea and resulted in some significant impacts to parts of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Tropical Low (37U) developed south of Honiara in the Solomon Sea, at 4:00 pm AEST (0600 UTC) Wednesday 1 April (AEST = UTC+10h). Tropical Low 37U initially tracked northwest, over waters to the west of the New Georgia Islands (Solomon Islands). Gradual intensification occurred, and it reached tropical cyclone intensity at 10:00 pm AEST (1200 UTC) Saturday 4 April, while located about 580 km west of Honiara. At this time, the system was within the Papua New Guinea Area of Responsibility and was named Maila.
Maila remained slow-moving and continued to intensify, reaching severe tropical cyclone strength at 10:00 pm AEST (1200 UTC) Sunday 5 April. Rapid intensification followed, with the system peaking as a Category 5, 115 knots (215 km/h) tropical cyclone at 4:00 am AEST 7 April (1800 UTC 6 April). During 6 April, Maila continued to be slow-moving and moved east into the Australian Area of Responsibility. Between 6 and 11 April, Maila remained mostly in the Australian region, moving back into PNG’s area for a period on the 9 and 10 April.
The system started to weaken from 9 April and by the morning of 11 April, gales were confined to the northern quadrants of the circulation. In line with the Australian definition of a tropical cyclone requiring gales to extend more than halfway around the system, Maila was reclassified as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Maila. At this time, the system was located over waters between Woodlark Island (also known as Muyua Island, Papua New Guinea) and the New Georgia Islands (Solomon Islands). Ex-Tropical Cyclone Maila continued to weaken with gales easing by 4:00 am AEST 12 April (1800 UTC 11 April). During 12 April, the remnants of Maila adopted a southwesterly track towards the Coral Sea.
It was reported that roads and buildings had been destroyed, and significant flooding and coastal inundation occurred across parts of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. A State of Disaster was declared for Western and Choiseul provinces (Solomon Islands). In Bougainville, roads were destroyed and landslides were observed across the region. Flooding and heavy rainfall were reported for communities and islands in the Milne Bay Province of PNG. There was impact to Australian territories.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila was the eleventh tropical cyclone and the seventh severe tropical cyclone in the Australian region for the 2025–26 season.
Note: A comprehensive report will be issued for this event upon completion of a post event reanalysis. All information relating to intensity and track is preliminary and subject to change following post analysis.
Track and intensity (Times in AEST, UTC+8h)
