2,000 Banten flood victims evacuate to highway shoulders

Around 2,000 residents living on the Ciujung River banks have evacuated from their homes and have sought shelter over the shoulders of the Jakarta-Merak toll road after three days of heavy rain in Banten caused the river to overflow, the Bantan Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPPB) says.

“The number of evacuees has increased. From the Kragilan sub-district, there are 1,158 people [that have evacuated],” agency chief Suyadi Wiraatmadja said Sunday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He said that the Kragilan sub-districts was one of the places that suffered most because of the extreme rain, as it was located close to the Ciujung river. He said that it had been the custom of the residents to flee to highway shoulders whenever their area was hit by a flood.

Apart from Kragilan residents, the shoulders of the Jakarta-Merak toll was also filled with 832 residents from the sub-district of Kibin, Suyadi said. (awd)