Floods in southern Sumatra lay waste to crops

Floods in southern Sumatra lay waste to crops

Muhammad Uzair and Oyos Saroso, The Jakarta Post, Palembang/Lampung

Flooding in Lampung and South Sumatra provinces in the past week
have claimed at least three lives, cut traffic and washed away
thousands hectares of rice fields in the area, which would likely
lead to a serious rice shortfall in the region.

In Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, flood waters
overwhelmed hundreds of houses and parts of the Trans-Sumatra
eastern highway, cutting land transportation into or from
southern Sumatra.

On Sunday, hundreds of vehicles were stuck in water up to 2
meters deep.

Muhammad Tohir, a Palembang resident, said that he had been
stranded in Ogan Komering Ilir regency for three days, because
the road back to Palembang was impassable.

Tohir, 39, has been forced to sleep in his car at the Tanjung
Raja bus station in the regency, waiting for the water to
subside.

The public transportation buses have also had similar
troubles.

In Lampung province, the flooding has killed three people in
Tulangbawang and North Lampung regencies. The two persons killed
in Tulangbawang regency were Mulyadi, 11 and Mat Atunoh, 50,
while in North Lampung regency, one victim was identified as
Achmadi, 15.

They were reportedly killed after being swept away by strong
river currents in their respective regencies.

In addition to the fatalities, the flooding in Lampung
province has also washed away some 10,000 hectares of rice crops
in East Lampung, Central Lampung, North Lampung, South Lampung
and Tanggamus regencies.

The head of Lampung Agricultural Office, Untung Sugiarto, said
in order to help the farmers cope with the harvest failure, his
office had set aside tons of much-needed seedlings for the
farmers affected.

He said that his office had earmarked 15 kilograms of corn
seedlings and 25 kilograms of rice seedlings for each hectare
damaged by the flood.