Heavy rain poured down on Medan and its surrounding areas in North Sumatra for hours on Thursday, causing the Deli River to overflow and engulf hundreds of houses along the river.
Besides engulfing the houses, the flood also inundated public facilities, including school buildings. Learning activities at an elementary school in Sei subdistrict were forced to stop due to the flood.
The deluge forced many civil servants and private employees to evacuate their offices.
The flood started to engulf the houses at about 3:30 a.m on Thursday morning.
The water level reached 1.5 meters in the morning and increased to two meters in the afternoon, forcing residents to take refugee in higher places. Some residents decided to stay on the second floor of their houses.
Abdurrahman, a Sei Mati resident, said the flood originated from the upstream area of the river.
"The flood came suddenly when the residents were sleeping. Most of the residents did not have time to evacuate with their belongings," Abdurrahman told The Jakarta Post in Medan.
Fuad, a resident from the Merdeka area, said that his neighborhood was the worst-hit area.
"The residents panicked as the flood water entered the houses and very quickly reached two meters," Fuad said.
He admitted his area was often hit by flooding during the rainy season as it was located on the riverbank.
He said the Medan administration had not yet given any aid to the flood victims.
"Like previous flooding, donations usually come from individuals, not from the administration," he added.
Fuad said the flood started to decrease at about 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Medan Meteorology and Geophysics Agency called on residents to remain alert for possible heavy rains and lightning from November to December in areas across North Sumatra.
"We are alerting the public that heavy rains and lightning could potentially create flooding. Such weather conditions are expected to start from the second week of November until next month," said the agency head Hendra Suwarta.
