Rare and extreme rainfall was the main trigger, both President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his subordinates said of the major floods, which so far have killed at least 15 people and displaced more than 100,000 others.

During his visit to the flood-affected Banjar regency on Monday, Jokowi said the intensity of rainfall had surpassed the capacity of the Barito River, the largest river in the province that originates in Central Kalimantan. He said rainwater with a volume of 2.1 billion cubic meters had entered the river, exceeding its normal capacity of 230 million m³.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry concurred with the President, saying the floods that had hit 11 out of 13 regencies and cities were due to extreme rainfall with a recurrent period of 50 to 100 years and that they were not because of a lack of forest area.

“We are clarifying this in order to [limit any confusing information] and to provide appropriate recommendations for policymakers, especially local governments, in disaster mitigation,” the ministry's pollution and environmental damage control director general RM Karliansyah told a press briefing on Tuesday.

The ministry acknowledged a 62.8 percent decrease in natural forest area in the Barito watershed section in South Kalimantan in the last three decades, but it said the division of the area had met the standard proportions.

The watershed section in South Kalimantan, covering 1.8 million hectares of the total 6.2 million-hectare watershed, is divided into 39.3 percent forest area and 60.7 percent other-use area, with 43.3 percent of the forest area forested, the ministry reported.

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