Heavy Rain, 17 Kelurahan In 7 Districts Of Gorontalo City Soak Floods

Illustration of floods (doc VOI)

GORONTALO - A total of 17 urban villages in 7 sub-districts of Gorontalo City have been flooded since Wednesday evening at around 18.00 WITA.

Rain with high to heavy intensity that flushed the Gorontalo area since Wednesday afternoon caused two large rivers in Gorontalo, namely the Bone River and the Bulango River to overflow and cause flooding in almost all of Gorontalo City.

"This is indeed quite high rainfall and the duration is quite long so that all rivers entering Gorontalo City, including the overflow of Lake Limboto, cause the water discharge that enters Gorontalo City to increase," said Gorontalo Province BPBD Disaster Management Manager Tahir Laendeng Thursday, July 11.

Temporary data from the Gorontalo BPBD stated that Gorontalo City was affected by the flood, namely Badminton Raya District as many as four sub-districts, West City District four kelurahan, East City District four kelurahan, Kota Tengah District one Kelurahan, Kota Selatan District two Kelurahan, Kota Utara District one kelurahan, and Hulontjalan District one kelurahan.

A total of 1,659 families or 12,487 people were affected by flooding with water levels reaching 50 centimeters (cm) to 1 meter. However, some residents affected by the flood still survive in their respective homes.

Meanwhile, a number of residents whose houses had been submerged in water up to 1 meter took refuge in the official residence of the mayor of Gorontalo.

"The worst locations affected by the flood, namely in Kota Selatan District, are in Limba U1 Village, Limba U2 Village, Molosipat Village, and Limba B Village. Some residents have fled to their homes. However, some did not evacuate because they were still protecting their property," said Tahir Laendeng.

Santi, one of the flood victims in Limba B Village, revealed that the flood occurred after the Maghrib prayer due to the high intensity of rain and overflowing river not far from her house.

He and his family admitted that they did not evacuate because they did not know where the evacuation was available.

"Water has risen since after the Maghrib prayer. We did not evacuate because we did not know where the location was to evacuate," he said.