Dozens Of Houses In Central Kalimantan Are Inundated Due To Overflowing Of The Bengaris River

Residents passing through the flooded area behind Bappeda Muara Teweh which was flooded due to the overflowing of the Bengaris River (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Dozens of houses in Muara Teweh, North Barito Regency, Central Kalimantan, have been flooded by flash floods due to heavy rains and overflowing of the Bengaris River.

"The flood has submerged residents' houses since around 07.00 WIB and is expected to recede this afternoon," said a resident of Jalan Ronggolawe Muara Teweh Hariadi, as reported by Antara, Sunday, October 25.

Heavy rains that hit the inland district of the Barito River occurred on Sunday, October 25 in the morning at around 01.40 WIB until the morning it was still raining, but not as heavy as midnight.

As a result, the Bengaris River, which is a tributary of the Barito River, overflowed and hit a number of settlements in the lowlands.

The flood-flooded residential areas include Jalan Ronggolawe and the Mekar Indah Housing complex, Muller Muara Teweh Mountain Road and Beppeda Rear Road, which are the areas worst affected by flooding nearly one meter.

"The three residential areas are located in the vicinity of the Bengaris River, so if it rains heavily for a long time it will be submerged," said Hariadi, whose house was flooded about one meter.

Meanwhile, a resident on Jalan Behind Bappeda Muara Teweh, Agus, said that the flood this time was very fast, usually slowly rising, even the residents' cars were flooded, because they were slow to be evacuated.

"The flood seems to continue to rise and the area where we live is flooded by more than 1.5 meters," he said.

According to him, the height of the flood this time is quite severe, but it usually only takes around 5-6 hours for a long time, so that it disturbs residents' activities, because most houses are submerged in water.

"The floods usually recede in the afternoon and this afternoon the floods begin to recede, but they are still inundating residents' homes," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of Emergency and Logistics for the Regional Disaster Management Agency of North Barito Regency, Rizali Hadi, said that currently the floods in a number of roads are starting to recede, including part of Jalan Pendreh, Jalan Ahmad Yani, Jalan Pramuka, but a number of areas are still inundated with floods starting to recede.

"Currently, we have not received a report on whether there have been casualties or property of residents," he said.

Head of the Technical Personnel Group at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency of Muara Teweh Sunardi said the heavy rains that caused a number of houses to be flooded reached 132.2 millimeters.

"The rain recorded in BMKG occurred around 01.40 WIB to 06.35 WIB or about five hours more with very heavy intensity," he said.