Flash flood hits Bandung, killing one

Yuli Tri Suwarni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Fri, 03/27/2009 2:28 PM  |  The Archipelago

Hundreds of houses in Tamansari, Pasirluyu and Braga areas in Bandung were inundated on Wednesday evening due to an overflow from Cikapundung river.

The flash flood, which environment activists blamed on fast rate of destruction in the existing conservation areas in the city, led to the death of one of the local residents.

The victim, identified as Sonson, 23, a Pasirluyu resident in Regol district, died apparently after he was electrocuted by a damaged cable when he was busy salvaging his valuable belongings.

Many residents lost their belongings like motorcycles and electronic sets which were washed away by the rapid flow of river water.

Deden Supariadi, 50, a resident of Braga, explained that the level of water started to go up at 5 p.m. Within half an hour the water inundated the area up to two meters high.

The residents were in panic as they were not prepared to anticipate the flash flood. "We are shocked to see the flash flood as at that time there was no rainfall at all," Deden said, adding that a similar flooding once took place in Braga in 2007.

Rahayu, 34 a resident of Tamansari, shared Deden's remarks. " I just thought on how to salvage my children and other valuable belongings," said Rahayu who has two children.

The flooding took place for four hours and the residents started to return to their houses at 9 p.m. after water level resided. On Thursday morning they cleaned up mud, debris and garbages which were brought into their houses by the water.

Bandung Deputy Mayor Ayi Vivananda disclosed the number of houses inundated during the flooding reached up to 641 in Tamansari, 200 in Braga and hundreds of others in Pasirluyu. At least 1,774 families were forced to evacuate to safe areas.

"We have not been able to know the cause of the flooding. We see there is a river rehabilitation project in Tamansari under the Pasteur-Surapati bridge, but we are not sure whether the project was the cause of the disaster," Ayi said.

Taufan Suranto, a spokesman of non-governmental organization Sunda environment observers council, attributed the flooding to the destruction of about 70 percent of the 38,548-hectare conservation area in Norther Bandung to make way for residential complexes, agricultural lands and tourism sites. The fast rate of destruction also took place the upper areas of the Cikapundung river in Maribaya, Lembang, he said.

"We found narrower parts of the river in Dago Bengkok, Punclut, because the river embankment has been converted into residential areas," Taufan said.

He warned the public to beware of other possible bigger flooding especially during rainfalls in the northern part of the city.

Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada, however, urged the environment activists not to easily blame the project in Punclut as the cause of the Wednesday's flooding. He promised to repair damaged embankment in Cikapundung, which faltered on Wednesday causing water to overflow to nearby residential areas.

"We will launched a normalization of the river and possibly by relocating parts of the residents to other areas," Dada added

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