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.