Over 10,000 houses submerged in Central Java

Over 10,000 houses submerged in Central Java

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Banyumas, Central Java

At least two people were killed and tens of thousands of
others evacuated on Tuesday when their homes in three Central
Java regencies were inundated by floodwater, caused by three days
of incessant rain.

More than 10,000 houses in hundreds of villages in the
Banyumas, Kebumen and Cilacap regencies were inundated by floods
of between 0.5 meter and one meter in depth.

Wartiyen, a 75-year-old from Gebangsari village in Banyumas
regency and 40-year-old Matbera from Karangbawang village in
Cilacap regency, were drowned in the flash floods in their
attempt to move their belongings to a safer location.

Torrential rains have drenched the southern part of Central
Java since Saturday. Rain was still falling in Banyumas regency
on Tuesday afternoon.

The flooding, which worsened after some rivers burst their
banks, also severed routes linking Yogyakarta with Purwokerto and
Purwokerto with Cilacap. A five-kilometer (km) section of the
Purwokerto-Cilacap road was submerged to a depth of one meter,
bringing traffic along the route to a stop.

A 10-km stretch of the Purwokerto-Yogyakarta road was flooded
to a depth of between 0.5 meter and one meter.

The floods also damaged the railway line between Jeruk Legi
and Kawunganten villages in Kebumen, paralyzing the route linking
Kroya in Central Java and Bandung in West Java.

Damage to the line caused the Serayu train to derail in Jeruk
Legi village on Monday night. The train could only be moved on
Tuesday afternoon, but the route was still closed, leaving
thousands of passengers stranded at stations between Kroya and
Bandung.

Daryoto, an official from Kroya station, told The Jakarta Post
on Tuesday that railway company officials, assisted by locals,
were working hard to repair the railway tracks damaged by the
heavy downpours.

Witoyo, head of the community protection office in Kebumen,
said that each subdistrict administration had set up shelters and
communal kitchens for tens of thousands of people forced to flee
their flooded homes.

"At least 60 villages in seven subdistricts in this regency
were flooded out," he said, adding that these were the most
serious floods to have hit the regency for several years.

Witoyo further said that they were now busy seeking donations
in the form of food, clothing and blankets for the victims, who
had lost almost all of their belongings in the disaster.

Didi Rudwiyanto, spokesman for the Banyumas regency
administration, said that the embankment of the Sibrama river
ruptured, causing water to inundate at least 500 houses. "Some
100 families had to be evacuated to the local village office," he
said.

Rivers also burst their banks in some other villages in
Banyumas regency.

Dozens of villages in Cilacap regency were inundated by up to
one meter of floodwater. Thousands of villagers flocked to
village offices, makeshift tents provided by local
administrations and to the homes of neighbors that had not
suffered flooding.

In the Bantarsari district of this regency, 10 houses were
buried by a landslide, but no casualties were reported.

Cilacap regent Herry Tabri said that he would pay a visit to
flooded areas on Wednesday.

The Cilacap regency administration blamed the flooding on the
reduction in the width and depth of the rivers. Almost all rivers
flowing through the affected regencies have estuaries at the
Cilacap coast.

Chief of the regency's public works agency, Suprihono, told
the media on Tuesday that at least six rivers were in an alarming
condition due to sedimentation over the past 25 years. "The
rivers have never been dredged during that period," he said,
claiming the Cikawung, Cilopadang and Dermaji rivers to be the
worst.

The reduction in depth, he said, had decreased the capacity of
the rivers to about 25 percent of normal.

"These rivers must be dredged soon, otherwise they will pose
serious risks to people living along their banks and 60,000
hectares of paddy field located nearby," he said.

He added that the regency administration had no funds for
dredging the rivers. "We need some Rp 6 billion (US$600,000) for
dredging, whereas the administration has allocated only around Rp
500 million," he said.