Floods occur in 10 areas on New Year’s Day
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/02/2012 12:28 PM
Floods hit at least 10 different areas across the archipelago on the first day of 2012.
National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Monday that Surakarta, Sragen, Sleman, Yogyakarta city, Klaten, Brebes, Nganjuk, Pasuruan, Bungo and Banjar had been flooded since Sunday evening.
He said heavy rain in Surakarta, Central Java, had caused the Bengawan Solo River and a number of other rivers in Sragen to overflow, causing floods on the Surakarta-Sragen-Surabaya main thoroughfares.
“The traffic was halted because the flood water reached up to one meter [in some places],” Sutopo said in a press statement.
He said heavy rain also occurred in Sleman, Yogyakarta, and around Mt. Merapi, leading to cold lava floods in some areas of Klaten in Yogyakarta province.
Sutopo also said a number of villages in East Java were inundated following the collapse of embankments alongside the Ciapit, Bancang and Kabuyutan river.
“In East Java, four houses collapsed and about 2,675 houses have been flooded,” he said. (drs)
