Cyclone Raquel public to maintain safe hygiene practices, including hand washing and boiling water before drinking it. As a result of the torrential rain, flash flooding was reported on several of the islands, which resulted in widespread damage in Malaita, Western, Choiseul and Isabel provinces. In particular thousands of food gardens were extensively damaged or destroyed, including 40 thousand in Malaita Province alone. One person was killed after being hit by a falling tree while 16 others were missing at sea. The Gold Ridge Mine on the island of Guadalcanal was declared a disaster zone by the Solomon Islands Government during July
Malaita Auki, on the northwest coast and is on the northern shore of the Langa Langa Lagoon. The people of the Langa Langa Lagoon and the Lau Lagoon on the northeast coast of Malaita call themselves "wane i asi" ‘salt-water people’ as distinct from "wane i tolo" ‘bush people’ who live in the interior of the island. Most local names for the island are Mala, or its dialect variants Mara or Mwala. The name Malaita or Malayta appears in the logbook of the Spanish explorers who in the 16th century visited the islands, and claimed that to be the actual name.