Thousands abandon homes as floods hit Sulawesi, Kalimantan

Thousands abandon homes as floods hit Sulawesi, Kalimantan

Jongker Rumthe and Ruslan Sangadji, Manado/Palu

Floods hit several parts of Sulawesi island and the provinces of
East and Central Kalimantan on Monday, forcing thousands of local
residents to flee to safer areas.

No casualties were reported after the flooding, which was
triggered by three days of heavy rain from Friday. Rainfall
continued on Monday in the affected areas of North Sulawesi and
Central Sulawesi.

Victims included those living near Tondano Lake in Minahasa
regency, some 37 kilometers south of the North Sulawesi capital
of Manado.

Houses in the hamlet of Sangian, Leleko village, Remboken
subdistrict, were submerged by floodwater that reached up to two
meters deep.

The flood also inundated four neighboring villages of Timu,
Talikuran, Paslaten and Sendangan; as well as other houses in
Roong and Tuutu neighborhoods, West Tondano subdistrict; and
Taulour and Kiniar neighborhoods in East Tondano subdistrict.

Unlike in Remboken, floodwater was only 50 centimeters deep in
those neighborhoods. However, the flood swept away thousands of
bamboo fish-breeding platforms, which are essential in the
victims' work.

Hundreds of hectares of farmland was also flooded, which will
likely result in harvest failure.

Data from local authorities showed at least 1,198 families in
East Tondano, 304 in West Tondano and 403 others in Eris
subdistrict had to flee their flooded villages.

There was no data from the local administration on the number
of refugees from Remboken subdistrict.

Last Saturday, North Sulawesi Governor A.J. Sondakh,
accompanied by the Minahasa regent, visited the affected areas
aboard a motor boat.

The local senior officials handed out aid, such as rice,
instant noodles and salted fish, for 1,325 families affected by
floods in the five subdistricts.

Flooding also caused at least 602 families from Sigi Biromaru
subdistrict, Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, to seek refugee
in shelters.

The victims fled their inundated houses in three villages of
Pakuli, Simoro and Tuwa, some 40 kilometers from the provincial
capital Palu, after water levels rose dramatically last Friday.

Their corn, peanut and vegetable plantations, and rice fields
were damaged by the flood that also submerged houses and three
elementary schools.

Students were forced to stay home from school on Monday.

Mud blocked the road connecting Pakuli and Rakuta hamlet,
obstructing traffic.

Pakuli community figure Arman Djarudju said the flood was the
worst to hit the village in five years. He blamed the flood on
deforestation due to illegal logging, which allegedly involved
locals.

"They (illegal loggers) were reprimanded. They even made an
agreement at the village head's office to stop logging, but they
defied it," he added.

Arman said the suspects sold the illegal logs in Palu. Certain
officials of the Donggala forestry office had been accused of
protecting them.

Pakuli village secretary Muhammad Jabir said flood victims
would soon meet the Donggala regent and the Central Sulawesi
governor to demand firm action against forestry officials
involved in illegal logging.

Jabir named Azhar as one official who had been accused of
backing illegal logging in Donggala. Azhar could not be reached
for comment as he too had fled his inundated house.

To reduce the flooding, local residents joined forces to set
up a makeshift dam, using hundreds of sacks of sand to block the
flow of water from Rakuta River.

Fearing that the worst was still to come, the victims,
however, had evacuated their valuables and household items to
safer areas of neighboring villages.

Floods also hit Samarinda and several other parts of East and
Central Kalimantan after nearby rivers overflowed following days
of rain. However, SCTV television did not report an influx of
flood refugees there on Monday.