Floods force hundreds to evacuate in S. Sulawesi

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): One died in floods and hundreds of town residents were forced to evacuate to higher ground when floods and strong winds again hit Ujungpandang and other areas in South Sulawesi.

Roads were inundated with up to one meter of water and traffic to the Hasanuddin airport was disrupted.

The victim was a girl, identified as Nani, 9 in Cambah district in the worst hit Maros regency.

In Maros, 30 kilometers to the north of Ujungpandang, 6,000 hectares of rice fields were submerged following heavy rains since Thursday. The last floods affected South Sulawesi last month in which three died.

Around 1,000 homes in Bantimurung and Maros Baru districts collapsed and hundreds of others elsewhere were almost destroyed.

Abdul Madjid, Maros coordinator of the natural disaster post, told The Jakarta Post he estimated losses to be at least Rp 3 billion. "Losses will increase if the rain doesn't stop," he said, noting the bus terminal was already flooded and transportation was severely disrupted.

Saleh of Lopi-Lopi village in Maros whose house was destroyed in the storm, said he failed to save any belongings.

"It was just rain in the beginning, but suddenly there were strong winds and people were running out of their homes," he said, adding he and neighbors would seek shelter in another village if rains continued another day.

In Mamuju regency, 450 kilometers north of Ujungpandang, a bridge collapsed, hampering the delivery of basic commodities to the area, causing prices to rise.

The state Pertamina oil company has laid a temporary pipeline across the piles of the collapsed bridge and is supplying the area with gas from tankers which drive up to the opposite bank of the river.

Heavy rains and strong winds also hit a number of districts in the Manggarai regency of Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara, and damaged wide areas of crops.

Secretary to the regent Frederic H. Nope was quoted by Antara as saying Friday that around 40 hectares of corn in five villages in the Reo district were completely wiped out by strong winds.

"Several hectares of rice fields in Kotakomba district are covered with mud from landslides," he said.

Waves reached two meters high, frightening locals.

In northern Aceh, residents were surprised early Friday by a tremor of 5.3 on the Richter scale, the head of the meteorology office of Malikussaleh in Lhokseumawe, S.A.L. Pinem, said.

The agency reported that the quake with its epicenter in South Aceh regency lasted a few seconds from around 2:30 a.m.

Damages were yet to be reported from the surrounding densely populated area of Perwakilan Singkil. (27/anr)