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fter suffering from prolonged drought and haze for months, hundreds of houses in Riau and Gorontalo provinces were hit on Tuesday by floods marking the beginning of the rainy season.

Floodwater engulfed four districts in Rokan Hulu regency after high rainfall over the Bukit Barisan mountain range in the past week prompted a number of rivers to overflow and inundate homes.

'€œThe data is still being recapitulated. We estimate the number of engulfed homes could reach the thousands,'€ said Rokan Hulu Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Aceng Herdiana.

Aceng said heavy rains in upstream areas had also caused the Aliantan, Tapung and Rokan rivers to burst their banks and engulf a number of villages in Rokan IV Koto, Kabun and Tandun districts.

In Rambah district, floods caused the Batang Lubuh and Pawan rivers to overflow, with the water level reportedly starting to rise at 6 a.m. local time before deluging homes with waist-high water by 9 a.m.

The floods also inundated a stretch of the Trans-Sumatra highway between Riau and North Sumatra, which passes through Pasir Pangaraian, the capital of Rokan Hulu.

According to Aceng, the affected villages were in upstream areas.

'€œTomorrow, the floods will shift to downstream areas. Based on the annual pattern, the next areas that will be hit by floods are Rambah Hilir, Kepenuhan Hulu and Kepenuhan villages, and eventually Bonai and Kunto Darussalam villages,'€ he said.

Based on preliminary data from the Rambah district office, at least 174 homes in Rambah Tengah Hulu village were engulfed by floods. In Pematang Berangan village, 79 homes were reportedly deluged, while in Tanjung Belit, the floods affected 30 homes.

'€œThe government has begun distributing relief aid such as food packages to flood victims in Rambah Tengah Hulu village,'€ said Rambah district chief Arie Gunadi.

Apart from Rambah district, aid has also been distributed to victims in Kabun and Tandun districts. Relief for victims in other villages will be jointly coordinated with the Rokan Hulu Social Office.

'€œThis morning, thousands of rice packages have been distributed to flood victims. At noon, a public kitchen was set up at the joint post in front of the Indonesian Red Cross headquarters in Pasir Pangaraian, where up to 3,000 packages of rice will be distributed to victims,'€ said Aceng.

'€œFortunately, there were no reports of casualties or injuries,'€ he said, adding that the value of damage caused had yet to be estimated.

Apart from the decreasing number of upstream catchment areas, he said the annual floods in Rokan Hulu were caused by badly silted rivers and accumulated garbage.

Meanwhile, after suffering from drought for almost five months, floods hit hundreds of houses in three villages in West Limboto, Gorontalo.

At least 115 homes in Padenengo village, 45 houses in Yosonegoro and 90 in Haya were flooded. The water level reached more than 1 meter.

Gorontalo BPBD'€™s emergency division head Asna Datau said residents were staying in their houses.

'€œWe are still monitoring the situation as there is still heavy rain in the area,'€ Asna said.