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Five missing as flash flood hits villages in North Sumatra
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Residents and officials assess the damage following a flash flood in Hatapang village in Labuhan Batu regency, North Sumatra, on Dec. 29. (Courtesy of BPBD/-)
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t least five people went missing when a flash flood struck the villages of Pematang and Hatapang in Na IX-X district, North Labuhan Batu regency, North Sumatra, over the weekend.
Hundreds of villagers in Hatapang village were trapped in the area for an entire day as they waited out the disaster with no working means of communication. The strong current of the 2-meter-high flood swept away 19 houses and destroyed one bridge.
North Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency head Riadil Akhir Lubis said the flash flood either damaged or completely destroyed 36 houses, as well as a number of public facilities. No casualties were reported, though five members of a family in Pematang remain missing.
“As of today, we have yet to find the five missing people. They were presumably swept away along with their house by the flood,” Riadil told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The five missing family members have been identified as homeowner Akbar Sipahutar and his wife Cahaya Nasution and their eldest daughter Reni Sipahutar and her two siblings.
Riadil said the search and rescue team, which also consisted of regional disaster mitigation agency personnel, were still actively looking for the missing individuals. The team searched in several nearby rivers, but the missing people were nowhere to be found, he added.
After much difficulty, the team eventually managed to enter Hatapang village to rescue trapped residents, Riadil said. It had no other choice but to walk for an entire day to reach the village because roads were inaccessible as a result of the disaster, he added.
“The team entered Hatapang village on Sunday at 5 p.m. The flood has laid to waste every public facility in the village,” Riadil said.
He said the flash flood occurred after two rivers in the area, Lubuk Natika and Siria-ria, overflowed due to heavy rain over the past few days.
Members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police assisted in the search and rescue efforts by setting up emergency disaster shelters and posts for victims of the flood. Villagers had since taken refuge in the designated areas to avoid falling victim to any subsequent flooding given the constant rain, Riadil said.
North Labuhan Batu Regent Khairuddin Syah, who himself nearly fell into a river on his journey to Pematang village alongside search and rescue personnel, said he would immediately send help to victims of the disaster.
Jhon Ferry, the head of Na IX-X district, said the flood also affected Batu Tunggal village, in addition to Pematang and Hatapang.
“Hatapang village experienced the worst of the flood. There were so many houses and public facilities that were destroyed in the village,” Jhon said.
The disaster is the second of major flood to occur toward the end of the year.
Two died and 50 houses were left covered in mud after a flash flood hit several villages in Kulawi subdistrict in Sigi regency, Central Sulawesi, on Dec. 14.
The flood in Sigi came as a result of a landslide from a mountain in Bolapapu, a village in Kulawi located next to forests. Heavy rain for days caused the landslide, which directly hit the village.
The disaster killed a father and his daughter who were stuck in their house when it hit. The mother of the family was able to survive as she was not in the house. (rfa)
