W

hile parts of Indonesia have entered the dry season, flooding and landslides continue in a number of regions, claiming lives and submerging houses and public facilities.

Heavy downpours in Central Sulawesi from Saturday morning until early Sunday morning caused flooding and landslides in nearly all the regencies in the province. Central Sulawesi Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Bartholomeus Tandigala said the affected regencies included Tolitoli, Tojo Una-Una, Morowali, Donggala and Sigi, with Tolitoli as the worst hit.

Tolitoli regent Mohammad Saleh Bantilan said flooding began prior to dusk on Saturday, promptly stopping many Muslims from conducting their usual religious activities as they were forced to evacuate.

Saturday night’s flooding was considered the worst to ever hit Tolitoli, affecting 56,000 families, submerging thousands of houses and public facilities, including highways. Local authorities said two people, Salma, 60, and Rahmi, 62, died during the flood, while two others, M. Mea, 43, and Sastro, 41, were reported missing.

Donggala Police chief Sr. Comr. Arie Ardian Rishadi said flooding in the regency claimed the life of a woman named Yaya, 40, in Ponju village, Balukang I subdistrict, Sojol.

In Banggai, a landslide hit Huhak village, along the trans-Sulawesi highway, cutting off the access road to Tojo Una-Una regency.

In West Kalimantan, heavy rains from Thursday to Friday over North Kayong regency inundated homes and public facilities in downtown Sukadana. The boxing gym of former world lightweight champion Daud “Cino” Yordan was also forced to close because of the flooding, reported to be the most severe in the past 10 years.

In Gorontalo province, heavy downpours from Friday to Saturday caused floods in Bone Bolango, Boalemo, Gorontalo regencies and in Gorontalo city.

Floods affected nearly 1,500 people in Mekarjaya and Harapan villages in Boalemo regency and over 1,700 others in Gorontalo regency.

In Gorontalo city, hundreds of homes and government facilities in a number of subdistricts, including Siendeng, Biawu and Donggala experienced flooding of between 30-centimeters- and 80-cm-deep.

“Flooding has been recurrently hitting this region. Just a few hours of rain can cause flooding here,” Kasim Muhammad, 61, of Siendeng told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in West Sumatra, Mount Marapi erupted three times on Sunday, spewing volcanic material to several districts, the head of the local Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) in Bukittinggi, Hartanto, said. Local authorities issued an alert status for the volcano. He urged locals and tourists to not go within a 3-kilometer radius of the volcano’s crater.