Over 20000 families flooded in East Kalimantan

At least 20.106 families have been inundated in floods in Samarinda city of East Kalimantan province. Heavy rain since Friday submerged thousands of houses in North Samarinda and Samarinda Ilir districts, over the weekend.

North Samarinda district head Marnabas said the heavy downpours had increased the water debit in the Benanga dam, Lempake subdistricts, from 30 cubic centimeters to 65 cubic centimeters per second.

The heavy rains also caused the Mahakam River and its tributary Karang Mumus River to overflow, leading to floods along their riverbanks. The worst flood, with a depth of 80 centimeters, occurred in Bengkuring, North Samarinda, whose downtown areas were inundated in waters up to 50 centimeters deep.

"I could not send my elementary school son to school because our motorbike could not pass through the street in front of our house," said Ruqiyah, a housewife from Bengkuring.

Dhea, from South Sempaja, said the flood was the worst she had ever experienced in the area. The flood has inundated the street in front of the Madya Sempaja Stadium, up to 50 centimeters deep, disturbing the traffic in the region.

Marnabas expressed hope the heavy downpour would stop and that the floods would not extend to wider areas. "We are working with the Social Agency to prepare for the boats and provide logistic supplies to survivors."

Many, including head of the Ministry of Environment's Kalimantan Regional Office B. Widodo Sambodo, have blamed the conversion of green regions into housing complexes or mining sites for the frequent floods in the region.

Samarinda has suffered from widespread flooding several times in the past five months due to heavy rains. Last November, floods killed a 12-year-old boy, identified as Roby, who was electrocuted while playing in an area flooded by up to two meters in North Samarinda.

In the same month, five estuarine crocodiles, some measuring up to seven meters in length, were flushed out of their holdings in Mulawarman University National Park as major floods destroyed their cages. The park had to deploy 40 people to catch them.