Antara 14 Aug 10;
Dumai, Riau (ANTARA News) - A tidal flood submerged two sub districts in Dumai City, Riau Province, Sumatra Island, early Saturday due to rising sea waters.
The inundation reaching a height up to one`s knee, had covered a number of roads and invaded hundreds of houses in East Dumai Sub district and West Dumai Sub district since Friday evening, sources said.
Effected residents were forced to evacuate to high grounds and save their belongings from the flood.
"Flooding and flooding again, Dumai city is never free from this problem," Rianto, a resident of Purnama urban village, West Duma sub district, said while trying to move his belongings to higher place.
Dumai City, which is located in a coastal area, could be hit by tidal floods three or four times a year, he said.
But this time the condition was worse as heavy rains had been falling constantly since Friday afternoon (Aug 13).
Scientists have found that primarily due to human-induced climate change, the sea level everywhere has been rising since the mid-19th century.
During the 20th century, the sea level rose about 15-20 centimeters (roughly 1.5 to 2.0 mm/year), with the rate at the end of the century expected to increase significantly over the figure in early part of the century.
According to the Climate Institute on its website, even a seemingly small rise in the ea level can have a dramatic impact on many coastal environments. Over 600 million people live in coastal areas that are less than 10 meters above sea level, and two-thirds of the world?s cities that have populations over five million are located in these at-risk areas .
With sea level projected to rise at an accelerated rate for at least several centuries, very large numbers of people in vulnerable locations are going to be forced to relocate.
If relocation is delayed or populations do not evacuate during times when the areas are inundated by storm surges, very large numbers of environmental refugees are likely to result. (*)
