Floods spread threatening rice fields in Kudus

The Jakarta Post   |  Wed, 01/14/2009 6:44 PM  |  National

Floods have hit three districts and submerged hundreds of hectares of rice fields in Kudus, Central Java, following hard rains over the past week, Tempointeraktif.com reported Wednesday.

Torrential rains have broken the banks of the Piji and Dawe rivers, leading to flooding in Menjobo, Kaliwungu and Jati Districts. Some villages and main roads are inundated by water up
to 60 centimeters high.

Menjobo District head Suharso said the administration planned to use hundreds of sandbags to block water from the rivers.

Separately, local Agriculture Agency officials have reported that floods have submerged 537 hectares of rice fields.

"If the floods last much longer our crops will be ruined," said Sudarji, head of a farmers group in Kaliwungu.

The operator of Kudu's main water gate, Wilalung Sluice, Kudus's main water gate, said river flow has been recorded in an alarming level of 800 to 1,000 cubic meters per second.

"It's very dangerous. During last year's big flood the flow was recorded at 1,300 to 1,500 cubic per second," said Noor Kholis, the sluice gate operator. (dre)
 

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