Flood destroys houses, ugly weather disrupts flights

Flood destroys houses, ugly weather disrupts flights

Slamet Susanto and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Semarang

A flash flood and a mudslide swept away at least two houses and
inundated dozens of hectares of farmland in Semarang, Central
Java, over the past 24 hours, while bad weather forced airlines
to cancel or delay flights in neighboring Yogyakarta, officials
said on Tuesday.

No casualties were reported after the flood hit the Tarukan
area of Ambarawa subdistrict on Monday night.

The owners of the affected houses -- Setyo and Isno --
survived the disaster as they were outside their homes when they
were hit by a wall of mud and water, according to local villager
Supardjo, 52.

He said the landslide and the flood also turned dozens of
hectares of farmland into a river full of mud and logs carried
from the nearby mountain areas.

"The storm sounded like a thundering voice. It turned out to
be floodwater coming from the mountain through our village,"
Supardjo said.

He said the flood carried thousands of tons of mud and sand,
as well as logs.

Another local resident Hadi Prayitno said the village was
actually part of a river's flood plain years ago, but it had been
filled in by people wanting to build houses in the densely
populated area.

"Therefore, these disasters happen now because we destroyed
nature," he added.

As the wet season started in October, the Meteorology and
Geophysics Agency (BMG) warned of possible floods and landslides
in many parts of the country, which were also devastated by
drought just a few months ago.

Many have blamed the drought and floods on deforestation due
to rampant illegal logging across the country.

Earlier this month, a flash flood devastated a popular resort
town in Langkat regency, North Sumatra, leaving more than 150
people dead with 100 others still missing and presumed dead.

Meanwhile, two days of heavy rains in Yogyakarta forced
airlines to cancel or delay all commercial flights from and to
Supadio Airport on Monday and Tuesday, leaving hundreds of
passengers stranded.

"Since Monday, the weather has been too nasty for planes to
land or take off. Therefore, we have decided to delay the
arrivals and departures of planes pending better conditions,"
said Bambang Sugito, head of PT Angkasa Pura's branch office in
Yogyakarta.

He said the decision was made for security and safety reasons
as bad weather also hit the towns of Cirebon and Cilacap.

"The clouds are very thick. Of course, it could endanger
flights," Bambang added.

He said the commercial flights that had to be rescheduled
included Garuda Indonesia's Jakarta-Yogyakarta route and the
Jakarta-Yogyakarta-Mataram route.

Lion Air traveling from Jakarta to Yogyakarta and Bouraq
serving the Jakarta-Yogyakarta-Balikpapan route also rescheduled
their flights.

On Tuesday, only one plane landed and none took off from the
airport.

The only plane that managed to land was a Bouraq flight that
landed safely at around 11 a.m. after being delayed for more than
three hours.

Meanwhile, a Garuda plane from Jakarta, which should have
landed in Yogyakarta at around 8:30 a.m, was forced to return to
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

"We have received complaints from passengers due to the
delays. I ask them to understand that flying in bad weather is
just too dangerous," Bambang said.