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Indonesia

Thousands of Houses Inundated in Sulawesi, 1 Dead and 3 Missing

JAKARTA – Heavy rain with high intensity and lasting in a long period accompanied with critical condition of watersheds have caused flooding in several places in Sulawesi region. Thousands of houses flooded, even causing casualties.

Heavy rain that lasted long enough flushed Tolitoli District. It triggered Tuwelei River and Lembe River overflowed. Flash flood hit four sub-districts in Lampasio, Baolan, Galang and Dakopamean, Tolitoli Regency, Sulawesi Tengah Province on Saturday (3/6) at around 13:00 pm. Water level of the flood in settlements was about 1 to 3 meters.

The flood caused 1 person dead (Salma, 60) and 1 person missing was carried away by flood. Thousands of houses were inundated. It is estimated that around 56,000 households are affected by flood. Flash flood in Dakopamean sub-district caused 15 houses to be swept away, 1 bridge broke and housing, offices and schools flooded to a height of 1 meter.

Trans-highway of Sulawesi connecting Tolitoli to Palu was broken totally due to the flood. Big flood came before fasting time so that some of local residents could not concentrate to conducting fasting. Some of them have moved to safe places.

Meanwhile, landslide occurred in Pangi Village. BPBD Tolitoli together with TNI, Police, Basarnas, local agencies and volunteers conducted evacuation and rescue operation. Emergency response and field assessment are still being conducted. Some challenges are identified during the response such as rain, power failure, and arduous location. It is because of affected areas still being inundated and minimum equipment for evacuation.

Based on BPBD Tolitoli report, flood has been subsided on Sunday (4/6). Emergency response is still being conducted by BPBD and other stakeholders. At previous month, which was on May 31, 2017, Tolitoli also experienced the same flood. Due to the incident, Lampasio, Ogomatanang, and Batuan were inundated.

Elsewhere, floods also hit the Mongkonai and Kelurahan Gogagomam Kotamobagu Subdistrict Kotamubagu City North Sulawesi Province on Saturday (3/6) at 14.30 local time (Wita). Previously heavy rains took place and caused the river to overflow.

The flood caused 2 children to drift, Adelia Imban (10) and Fadel Lasaimbu (8). They are residents of Mongkonai Barat Village, Kotamugabu, Kotamugabu City. The two casualties when the rain took place were playing in a small channel, suddenly came strong current so that both children drifted and carried to the river that was flowing. Until now SAR team from Basarnas, BPBD Kotamugabu, Police, TNI, and volunteers are still looking for casualties along the river.

BPBD Kotamugabu has distributed logistics to affected residents. It is informed that the flood has subsided.

Previously floods inundated hundreds of settlements and farmland in three sub-districts, i.e. Limboto, Limboto Barat and Tibawa. The flood inundated 9 villages in the 3 sub-districts namely Limboto Sub-district (Tenilo, Bolihuangga, Hunggaluwa, Bongohulawa, and Kayumerah Sub-districts); West Limboto District (Haya-Haya Village, Yosonegoro, Pone) and Tibawa Sub-District (Datahu Village) on Friday (2/6). Flood height ranges from 50 to 200 centimeters.

A total of 484 houses consisting 664 families or 2,474 people were affected by floods. Public facilities such as schools, mosques, puskesmas and offices are also flooded. The most submerged areas were Tenilo (178 houses, 203 families / 632 inhabitants) and in Pone Village (86 houses, 96 families / 384 inhabitants).

People are encouraged to always be prepared due to potential floods and landslides. BMKG has issued early warning of potential heavy rain in the territory of Indonesia until 8/6/2017. Increased rainfall in early June 2017 was triggered by the movement of atmospheric waves along the equator known as the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO). It is predicted that the wave will continue to spread to the eastern part of Indonesia for the next five days, triggering the increase of rainfall in central and eastern Indonesia. In addition to triggering heavy rain, this phenomenon causes the emergence of strong wind potential in the areas of South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. High waves also occur in some Indonesian waters such as the Banda Sea, Arafuru Sea, Timor Sea, Southern waters of Java to P. Sumba with an altitude ranging from 2-4 meters.

It is predicted that increasing rainfall with strong wind so that community in the following regions should be prepared, i.e. Kalimantan Utara, Kalimantan Timur, Kalimantan Tengah, Sulawesi Tengah, Sulawesi Barat, Sulawesi Tenggara, Sulawesi Selatan, Gorontalo, Sulawesi Utara, Maluku, Papua Barat, Papua.

People are encouraged to be prepared and cautious about the impacts that can be potential hazards, such as flood, landslide, flash flood, fallen trees and slippery roads.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho Head of Data, Information and Public Relations Center