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Paddy fields, homes inundated as floods hit Cilacap
Waterfront: Children look at inundated paddy fields in Mujur village, Kroya district, Cilacap regency, Central Java, on Saturday
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Waterfront: Children look at inundated paddy fields in Mujur village, Kroya district, Cilacap regency, Central Java, on Saturday. (JP/Agus Maryono) (JP/Agus Maryono)
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span class="inline inline-center">Waterfront: Children look at inundated paddy fields in Mujur village, Kroya district, Cilacap regency, Central Java, on Saturday. (JP/Agus Maryono)
Incessant heavy rain during the last several days has led to the floods affecting a number of districts in Cilacap regency, Central Java, to continuously expand.
Flood waters that inundated dozens of villages in three western Cilacap districts; Karangpucung, Kedungreja and Sidareja, on Friday, have now spread to eastern areas; Kroya and Nusawungu districts.
Flood waters inundated thousands of hectares of paddy fields in Kroya and Nusawungu, on Saturday, and the flooded area is expected to continue to expand due to ongoing heavy rain. In western Cilacap, flood waters have submerged not only paddy fields but also hundreds of homes.
'There has been very heavy rainfall in Cilacap. Flooding cannot be avoided. Kroya's highway has been severely flooded, making it look just like a river, due to heavy rainfall,' Darikun, 45, a Kroya resident, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said flooding in Kroya and its surrounding areas had occurred since Friday evening and it would likely worsen as rain fell incessantly.
In western Cilacap, flood waters with a depth of between 20 and 50 centimeters swamped hundreds of houses; however, no one has been evacuated.
'More than 500 houses have been inundated but residents have still chosen to stay in their homes,' Ansor Basuki, a staff member of the Cilacap administration's information and communication department, told the Post on Saturday.
He said flooding in Cilacap was an annual event that happened every rainy season.
'They [residents] will be evacuated if the situation gets worse. We have built a number of multi-story houses in flood-prone areas,' said Ansor. (ebf)
