Seven killed as floods blanket six provinces

JAKARTA (JP): Floods hit at least six provinces over the weekend, causing seven deaths in North and South Sulawesi as of late Sunday. Heavy rains flooded schools and business centers, and destroyed rice fields.

Among the dead were a mother and her four-year-old child who were swept away by the raging water in Barru regency, South Sulawesi, according to Police Chief Lt. Col. Himrat T. Another person drowned in Maros, South Sulawesi, witnesses said.

Barru and Maros regencies, among the provinces' most important rice producing areas, are respectively located around 100 and 30 kilometers north of the capital, Ujungpandang.

The rain, which has fallen since New Year's Eve on Thursday, inundated dozens of residential sites, bridges, roads and other facilities, including the Indonesian Muslim University and the nearby University 45. Traffic congestion was a major problem because many roads were impassable. Those attempting to leave the area by air also faced major delays because the road to the airport only had one lane open. "Drivers are wary of the water covering the other lane," one driver said.

Areas along the Tallo and Pampang rivers were also flooded, threatening hundreds of houses with water reaching as high as 1.5 meters.

In North Sulawesi, four were killed when landslides caused by torrential rains buried their houses in Liwas, Ranomuut village, early Saturday, Antara reported.

Rescue workers in Liwas said one victim was identified as Apo Tenda, 62, a resident of Paldua village, while the other three, who were residents of Ranomuut village, were yet to be identified. Locals said the landslide occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Friday.

Last November, two heavy downpours triggered landslides in the North Sulawesi province, killing three villagers in two subdistricts.

The latest casualties added to the death toll caused by widespread floods in Indonesia. On Friday, eight people died and 13 were injured when a flash flood hit a gold mining area in Bengkulu province, Sumatra.

"The gold mining incident caused Rp 300 million in losses," Syafriwal, head of Bengkulu's mining office, was quoted as saying.

Separately, in Serang, West Java, the agency reported that at least 310 houses and 300 hectares of rice fields were immersed by water that reached up to one meter high.

According to Cikande district chief Ismanto Ismail, the rice fields worst hit were in Carenang, Kragilan, Pamarayan and Cikeusal, while hundreds of houses in Desa Nagara, Tambak and Ciagel were flooded. In Nagara alone 261 homes were inundated.

As of Saturday, two paper factories were flooded in the Kragilan subdistrict, which was among the worst hit by flooding in 1995.

In Surabaya, East Java, as of Saturday the eastern part of the town was still experiencing water between 20 centimeters and 80 centimeters high, Antara reported.

Heavy rain has fallen unremittingly here since Thursday.

Meanwhile in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, at least 175 hectares of rice fields in Lempake and five hectares of corn fields in the Sempaja subdistrict were swamped, causing damage to about 60 percent of the rice plants.

"The fields are located in the lower areas of the Karang Mumus river," the head of the East Kalimantan Food Plant Agency, HA Sofyan Alex, said on Saturday.

In Pekalongan, Central Java, at least 134 houses were damaged by landslides in Bodas village in the Kendangserang district on Saturday. Pekalongan Regent Harsono told The Jakarta Post that residents had been evacuated and that aid had been prepared for the victims. (Jupriadi/har/edt)