A Woman Dragged By Floods Who Was About To Go To Campus In South Nias Was Found Dead

The flood situation in South Nias Regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (19/9/2023). (Between/HO-BNPB)

NORTH SUMATRA - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) reported that a student who was missing was swept away by floods in South Nias Regency, North Sumatra (North Sumatra) was found dead.

Head of the South Nias PBD Emergency Section, Epa Dekhi, said the student was swept away by the current after breaking through the flood while heading to campus on Tuesday 19 September at 13.00 WIB.

"The joint search and rescue team from BPBD South Nias Regency, Basarnas, TNI, and Polri, then managed to find the victim's body within a distance of approximately 100 meters from the scene," he said in a written statement, Wednesday, September 20, which was confiscated by Antara.

Search efforts were hampered because the flood flow was quite heavy, so for safety reasons, the team had to wait for the situation to be conducive.

After being found at 18.30 WIB, the victim's body was then handed over to the family for burial.

The victim was found dead at 18.30 WIB yesterday. The team at that time could not immediately search and rescue because the flood was very heavy and it was still raining heavily," said Epa.

Furthermore, he detailed the flood-affected areas covering four sub-districts, namely Luahagundre, Fanayama, Teluk Dalam, Toma and Onolalu.

In addition to flooding, Epa said the extreme weather also triggered landslides at two points, namely in Onolalu District and Teluk Dalam.

The landslide material in Onolalu has so far cut off traffic access. Meanwhile, those in Teluk Dalam can still be passed by vehicles.

The joint SAR team, he continued, was still monitoring and guarding the avalanche site for security reasons. The cleaning of mud material cannot be done due to limited equipment.

Longsorda dua titik di Onolalu. Saat ini material avalanche menutup jalan sehingga tidak dapat dijalan. Kemudian ada juga di jalan nasional yang menghubungkan Teluk Dalam menuju kota. Namun masih dapat terjalan, kata Epa.

As for the current state, Wednesday, September 20, the flood has not subsided. The water level (TMA) is flooded, he said, according to field observations, it ranges from 20-150 centimeters. In addition, rain with moderate intensity is still pouring in several areas.

Flood still survives. Currently it is still raining with moderate intensity," said Epa.

As an effort to anticipate further disasters, the BPBD of Nias Regency has issued an appeal to the public referring to the latest report on weather forecasts from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), that moderate rain has the potential to occur for the next three days.

The public is asked to remain vigilant and increase their capacity in anticipation of further disasters. People who live on the banks of rivers and are close to cliffs should evacuate independently if there is still rain within 2-3 hours.

In addition, BPBD South Nias Regency also asked the public to continue to update weather forecast information from BMKG.