Floods and landslides claim more victims
JAKARTA (JP): Floods in the Polmas regency in South Sulawesi killed at least one person, while about 200 houses were swept away on Wednesday and two were killed in a landslide that hit the Sambirejo district in Sragen, Central Java.
The victim in Sulawesi was identified as Lahang, who died when a bridge on the Mappili River collapsed on Wednesday.
A relief team led by local officials has been dispatched to the area to provide food aid and medical supplies for hundreds of people taking refuge in makeshift shelters.
Traffic between the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, Polmas and Mamuju was also disrupted as water reaching one meter high covered a road in the village of Katiting in the Majene regency.
Incessant rain has fallen in the Polmas, Majene and Mamuju regencies since Tuesday.
Dozens of cows were also swept away by the floods and hundreds of hectares of rice fields and shrimp ponds were inundated.
Local officials said they had been evacuating residents living next to the Mandar and Mappili rivers to higher ground.
Parepare Police chief Col. Mardjito, who was visiting Majene to install a new local police chief, and his entourage were stranded in Majene on Wednesday night as water flooded the road linking the Polmas and Majene regencies.
Meanwhile in Sragen, a father and son were killed in a landslide on Wednesday. They were identified as Gunadi, 27, and Slamet, 10. Two more people, Paryono, 23, and Kuwat, 30, were injured.
Rainstorms in the Central Java district of Jumantono in Karanganyar also destroyed at least 10 houses.
Jumantono district chief Suharno said that there were no casualties in the rainstorm.
In Blora, at least 3,500 houses in eight villages were flooded when the Bengawan Solo River overflowed its banks on Wednesday.
The spokesman for the Blora regency, Suharto, said on Thursday that thousands of hectares of crops were inundated with water reaching 60 centimeters high. There were no casualties, but thousands of residents have not been able to leave their homes.
"The local government and residents have been preparing makeshift shelters on higher ground," Suharto said.
In Cilegon, West Java, heavy rains on Wednesday flooded hundreds of houses in a nearby industrial area with meter deep water.
Antara news agency quoted a number of villagers as saying that the flood was caused by piles of coal from two companies which had narrowed irrigation passages in Ciwandan.
Traffic from Cigading to Anyer was disrupted when water reaching 70 centimeters high flooded a strip of road in the area.
The news agency also reported that hundreds of residents whose houses were flooded had taken refuge in makeshift shelters on higher ground.
Antara also reported that strong winds which had battered the Semendo district in Muara Enim, South Sumatra, since Monday had damaged at least 100 houses, a village hall, one elementary school and one community health center.
The winds also destroyed dozens of hectares of crops in the area. (30/har/byg)