Jakarta Globe 8 Dec 12;
Jambi/Bandung/Yogyakarta/Samarinda. Torrential rains over the last several days caused heavy flooding in many areas across the country on Friday, but as of that evening there were no reports of fatalities.
In Jambi, water from the overflowing Batang Hari River nearly paralyzed the entire city on Friday, with floodwater reaching up to two meters in depth in some areas.
Rafts and canoes were being used as a mode of transport.
The floods hit all three subdistricts in the city, residents said, adding however, that the fact that most houses are built on stilts spared many from serious damage.
Despite the extent and depth of the floods, there were no reports of people evacuating for drier ground.
Many residents also said they were reluctant to leave their homes empty for security reasons.
Junaidi Yusak, the head of the Legok urban ward in the Telanaipura subdistrict of Jambi, said the 264 houses in his area have been completely isolated. He said some 1,370 people were affected in his ward.
He also said that residents had anticipated the floods, setting up a flood coordination center and devising evacuation plans in case of emergency. They also prepared canoes and rafts.
“We have been continuously monitoring the water and based on our observations the floods continue to rise in height by some five centimeters every day. We also continuously inform residents so that they can prepare themselves well if they have to evacuate,” Junaidi said.
An observation of the Batang Hari River water level showed that by Friday it was only about 17 centimeters away from the 13.37-meter critical level that would necessitate the evacuation of the some 3,000 residents in the three flooded subdistricts.
In Bandung district, West Java, water overflowed from the Citarum River, flooding several areas and roads in Baleendah subdistrict, blocking people from traveling to and from surrounding areas.
Hundreds of houses and buildings were still inundated as of Friday morning.
In Paser district, East Kalimantan, residents in some neighborhoods climbed onto the roofs of their houses to avoid floodwater while others fled to higher land and buildings.
Several residents blamed bad sewage systems and the habit of throwing garbage to rivers and water channels, blocking water flow and causing it to overflow in their areas.
“The related agency must quickly clean them because the rainy season will worsen the situation,” said Andi, a local resident.
In Yogyakarta, as of Friday morning dozens of houses in Umbulharjo were also still flooded by water coming up from a nearby river which has been filled with garbage.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said on Tuesday that rain-related disasters were expected to continue until January. He said the areas particularly vulnerable are those straddling the Bengawan Solo River in Central and East Java, as well as villages at the foot of Mount Merapi in Central Java and Yogyakarta. They are at risk of landslides from the millions of tons of ash deposits still sitting on the volcano’s slopes following its eruption in 2010.
Sutopo said mudslides and floods across the country in the past two months have killed at least 33 people and forced 35,000 to flee their homes, warning that these figures could rise as the rainy season intensifies.
