Death toll climbs to 14 in Java, Sumatra floods
Death toll climbs to 14 in Java, Sumatra floods
JAKARTA (JP): Extensive floods, caused by incessant rains in
Java and Sumatra, have killed at least 14 people over the past
week.
Water inundated thousands of houses in Java, southern and
western Sumatra and destroyed food crops.
Ten people have been reported dead in West Sumatra where
floods hit four regencies last week.
The latest fatalities happened in the West Java regency of
Bandung when four people drowned in the Sindagkerta and Majalaya
subdistricts Saturday.
Three of the victims, Romlah, 20, Ani, 15 and Eva, 14, were
from the same family. They drowned when the suspension bridge hey
were crossing collapsed into the swelling Garing river in
Sindangkerta.
Heavy rains pounding the Bandung regency from Thursday through
Saturday last week and caused the Citarum River to overflow,
flooding hundreds of houses. The Bandung-based Mandala daily has
failed to appear since Thursday because its printing press was
soaked, Antara reported.
In the East Java regency of Bojonegoro, the Bengawan Solo, one
of Java's largest rivers, has reportedly flooded more than 2,000
houses in 15 subdistricts.
Bojonegoro is susceptible to flooding from Bengawan Solo,
major flooding occurs every rainy season.
A spokesman for the local government, Sudiro, said yesterday
that the Bengawan Solo was rising. This prompted the
administration to ready relief aid, including medicine, in
anticipation of a catastrophe.
Residents were persuaded to build sandbag dikes and rescue
workers were ready to evacuate residents from flooded areas.
Kediri was also put on high alert after floods smashed two
dikes built to control the flow of cold lava from Mount Kelud,
one of Java's active volcanoes.
Mount Kelud project manager Diro Supangat said that the dikes
collapsed on Friday night after the gorge was unable to
accommodate the water. Over 50 hectares of paddy fields were
buried in sand.
Over 40 million cubic meters of lava has currently accumulated
on the slopes of Mount Kelud, which last erupted in 1990,
according to Supangat.
Equipment
The project authorities have readied heavy equipment in case
major lava floods hit the area. "The equipment can be brought in
to a stricken area any time it is needed," he told Antara.
The government has spent Rp 20 billion (US$9 million) on
building lava flood control systems on the mountain.
In Central Java, major floods inundate vast areas in
Purbalingga, Pekalongan, Brebes, Tegal and the capital Semarang.
Thousands of people from 15 villages have been evacuated to
Purbalingga, where heavy rains soaked the "mango town" for three
consecutive days last weekend.
The overflow of the Klawing river also hit paddy fields and
caused heavy traffic jams in town.
Flooding in Pekalongan, Brebes and Tegal started on Thursday
and had not subsided by yesterday. The local administrations have
provided aid for the hundreds of evacuees.
Heavy rains have also triggered widespread flooding in
Pangkalpinang on Bangka Island in southern Sumatra over the
weekend.
Several thousand people were evacuated in Pangkalpinang to
schools in the area.
"There have been no fatalities but a car was buried in a cut
road," said Sopan Efendi, head of the socio-political affairs
section of the Pangkalpinang administration. (pan/wah)