6,915 Hectares Of Sawah Belonging To Residents Of South Lampung Submerged By Floods Due To Heavy Rain

Hundreds of hectares of rice fields belonging to farmers in Palas District, South Lampung Regency were flooded due to high rainfall and several broken river embankments. (ANTARA/Riadi Gunawan)

The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) noted that thousands of hectares of rice fields belonging to residents in South Lampung were flooded due to high rainfall and several river embankments collapsed.

Head of BPBD South Lampung Ariswandi explained that his party had recorded an area of 6,915 hectares of rice fields belonging to residents was threatened with crop failure due to flooding that hit the South Lampung area in the last few days.

"The data collection on the number of residents affected by the flood is still in the process of being calculated by the team in the field, then for residents' fields that were flooded based on temporary data there are around 6,915 hectares affected," he said in South Lampung, Monday, February 10, confiscated by Antara.

He said the majority of the rice fields belonged to farmers, which are spread over seven sub-districts.

"For the flooded rice fields, there are seven sub-districts, namely Ketapang, Palas, Seragi, Penengagan, Waypanji, Candipuro, and Waysulan sub-districts," he said.

According to him, thousands of hectares of rice fields belonging to farmers who were flooded were due to high rainfall, so that several rivers in the area were unable to withstand the flow of water and some responsibilities were broken.

He explained that not only rice fields belonging to farmers, a number of residential areas in South Lampung were also flooded.

"For residential areas or residents' houses affected by the flood, until now the team is still collecting data, so we cannot confirm how many houses were submerged," he said.

Therefore, he asked the people in the area to increase awareness of potential natural disasters that could at any time threaten the safety of residents.

"We see that until now heavy rains still often occur, then BMKG has also issued an early warning about the potential for high rainfall until the end of February. Therefore, I urge the public to always increase awareness of things we do not want," he said.