Road access between Padang and Pekanbaru in West Sumatra returned to normal on Tuesday after the flood waters that closed the road over the weekend subsided.

Pangkalan Police head Ipda Kalbert Jonaidi said access to the Sumatra causeway was reopened on Monday evening after the water started to drain. A queue of vehicles 10 kilometers long lined up from Bukittinggi and Riau.

"It took two hours to reduce the congestion," Kalbert said on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

Kalbert said residents who were evacuated yesterday had begun returning to their homes and cleaning up the waste left behind by the 4-meter-high floods.

Thousands of buildings including homes, schools, government offices, police stations, health centers and post offices were inundated in water.

West Sumatra has recently been experiencing floods and landslides across 10 regencies and cities due to high rainfall. The most critically hit areas included the regencies of Limapuluh Kota and South Solok due to the overflow of Maek and Batang Sinamar rivers.

The West Sumatra-Riau causeway was also cut off due to the flooding.

Limapuluh Kota Regent Yendri Thomas said floods have affected over a thousand homes in his region and left residents with no choice but to evacuate.

The government has focused on evacuating and assisting flood victims by establishing a center for victim assistance as well as a public kitchen to help overcome gaps in logistics.

"We have not decided on a disaster status or condition," he said. (liz/ags)

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