Floods hit Bandung, one dies and hundreds flee

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

While many people were busy campaigning for their political parties ahead of next month's legislative election, residents of the West Java capital of Bandung were fleeing floodwaters on Tuesday.

At least one person, Gunawan, 28, was killed on Monday evening after being struck by lightning in Babakan Ciputat, Baleendah, in southern Bandung.

Floodwaters inundated about 2,000 houses in Babakan Ciputat when the Citarum River burst its banks following days of rain, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.

Momom Suherman, head of the disaster control and alertness section in the Bandung administration, said on Tuesday flooding initially hit the two subdistricts of Dayeuhkolot and Solokan Jeruk.

The flooding later spread to 20 villages in the subdistricts of Baleendah, Rancaekek and Majalaya. The height of the floodwaters rose and fell, depending on the level of the rain, Momom said.

"If heavy rains last for one hour, the floodwaters rise up to one meter in height and later recede, and so forth. But the height is between 50 and 80 centimeters on average," he said.

He said it was the seventh time flooding had hit the same residential area in southern Bandung since the end of 2003.

Some affected residents were apparently reluctant to seek safety on higher ground, although homes, schools, government offices, mosques and streets were under water.

The Bandung administration has provided rice and instant noodles to help hundreds of residents sheltering in school buildings and other buildings.

There have been no reports of political parties taking advantage of the flooding to campaign among the victims by sending them aid.

Adang Suheri, a resident of Pasawahan village in Dayeuhkolot who was forced to flee his house, said he was tired of having to deal with flooding every rainy season.

"How can we live normally if flooding continues to strike our area. I lost my junior high school diploma in the floodwaters. We have to clean up our flooded houses and are forced to take refuge if the floodwaters get too high," he said.

Adang blamed development projects along the Citarum River that began in the 1990s for the worsening annual flooding in Dayeuhkolot.

"In the past (before the projects began), there was only one flood during the rainy season, but now we have up to 10 floods a year," he said.

Baleendah subdistrict head Agus Gusmana said a dredging project began in the upstream area of the Citarum River, hindering the flow of water in smaller downstream rivers like the Cipalasari and Citepus.

Bunbun Sabur, head of the irrigation maintenance and rehabilitation section of the Bandung Public Works Office, confirmed the Citarum dredging project was still being carried out on the upstream part of the river.