Floods cause further damage in Riau province
Floods cause further damage in Riau province
JAKARTA (JP): Flooding in the Indragiri Hulu regency in Riau
province has caused further damage.
Y. Kadar Sulaiman, a flood control officer with the Indragiri
Hulu administration, said yesterday that incidents of damage had
increased since previous day.
"Floods have submerged 171 villages in Indragiri Hulu regency
alone," Sulaiman told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.
He said that the flood had damaged 9,808 houses, 154 schools,
174 mosques, and 52 bridges.
Sulaiman said that it had also devastated 669.3 hectares of
rice fields and 727 hectares of non-staple food crops.
As of yesterday afternoon 13,518 residents had been evacuated
from the flood-stricken areas, he said.
Previous reports had said the floods had submerged 159
villages, damaged 9,456 houses, 145 schools, 152 mosques, 21
bridges, and 1,000 hectares of rice and non-staple food crops.
Sulaiman said the floods had caused the death of 14,335
chickens, 420 goats, two buffaloes, and 19 cows.
He estimated that the flooding, which began last week, had
caused material damage in the order of Rp 6 billion (US$2.7
million).
Sulaiman said the flood water in the areas close to the upper
course of the Indragiri river had receded, but that the water
level in the areas close to the lower course of the river had
risen.
More floods
Meanwhile rivers in the Sawahlunto Sijunjung regency, West
Sumatra, had subsided to normal levels, Regent Ruslan Zeint said
yesterday.
A day earlier, the water reached five meters above the normal
level.
He told the Post that the flooding had been caused by the
overflow of the Batang Palaki river, about 175 kilometers east of
Padang, the provincial capital. It has inundated 20 hectares of
rice fields and damaged 18 irrigation waterwheels, he said.
Ruslan said that the flooding had also damaged three
elementary school buildings, 49 houses and two bridges.
In West Java the situation in Cirebon remained stable over the
weekend.
Rosyid, a staff at the Lemahabang subdistrict, said no rice
fields or houses had been affected by the floods.
He said that rescue workers were still looking for two of 11
people reported missing in the Cimanis river. Nine people have
been saved from the overflowing river and are in good health,
Rosyid said.
He said the 11 people were carried away by the rapid current
while trying to cross the river on Tuesday last week.
In Serang, West Java, a heavy downpour over the weekend
submerged some rice fields in the eastern part of the regency,
Antara reported.
The level of the Ciujung river, the largest river in Serang,
has risen but is still within the normal range.
However, sand collectors, who dredge and gather sand in the
river, have had to suspend their activities because of the rising
water level.
In Central Java a heavy downpour over the weekend caused the
level of several rivers to rise, Antara reported.
The Babakan and Kabuyutan rivers in the Brebes regency could
not contain the extra water, leading to the inundation of
thousands of hectares of red onion crops and rice fields in the
Wanasari, Bulakamba, and Tanjung subdistricts.
Meanwhile sources in the Central Java administration said that
Saturday's heavy downpour had also increased the water level of
several rivers in the regencies of Sragen, Salatiga, Demak,
Grobogan, Pati, and Kudus.
Farmers whose land is located close to the rivers, said that
the continuous rising of the water would cause flooding similar
to that in 1993, which claimed lives as well as damaging crops
and buildings.
They said that they expected to harvest their rice at the end
of this month or early next month.(imn)