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.