Floods hit village

PURWAKARTA, West Java: Hundreds of houses in Cikaobandung village, Purwakarta, were flooded with water levels reaching one- meter-high on Monday following prolonged heavy rainfall from Sunday night.

The water also inundated dozens of hectares of paddy fields where rice was planted two months ago.

The floods on Monday occurred very rapidly as water overflowed Cinangka river, followed by Cikao river, a branch of Citarum river.

A similar incident also happened in November when the village was flooded.

Locals blame public company, Jasa Tirta II, which manages the Jatiluhur dam and the Cikao and Cinangka rivers, for the floods. They claim that the rivers flooded because of work done by the company to narrow its width and reduce its depth.

Members of the community had demanded compensation from the company following the floods that hit their village last November. They also urged the firm to dredge the rivers and ordered the stoppage of illegal sand mining along the rivers. They also suggested that the company relocated to an area which is not flood prone. The case has yet to be settled. (sim)