Floods Due To Heavy Rain In Tolitoli, Basarnas Evacuates Residents Trapped

Basarnas Palu evacuates residents trapped in floods (Doc. Basarnas)

TOLITOLI - Basarnas Palu deployed a joint team to evacuate residents trapped in floods in Tolitoli Regency, Central Sulawesi. Heavy rains that occurred in the area submerged several residents' houses in water.

"We received information at around 17.23 WITA and immediately deployed personnel from the Tolitoli SAR Alert Unit to the disaster site," said Head of the Palu Search and Rescue SAR Office Moh Rizal in Palu, quoting ANTARA, Sunday, October 26.

He explained that the flood occurred in Tuweley Village, Baolan District, Tolitoli Regency, triggered by heavy rains that hit the area at around 15.00 WITA.

Until the evening the water level reached 1.5 meters, the local government and Basarnas assisted in the process of evacuating residents to safer places.

"Information we received the team while the joint team was still carrying out evacuation activities, with the hope that all residents could be evacuated. Until now we have not received information on how many families (KK) were affected by the flood," he said.

He said that until now there were no casualties in the incident.

Even so, his party continues to take steps to accelerate the evacuation process, especially children, the elderly, women, and pregnant women.

During the evacuation process, the joint SAR team used rubber boats. Reportedly, until 18.30 WITA it was still raining the area with moderate intensity.

Residents who were evacuated were placed in a centralized place to facilitate data collection by the local government and Basarnas.

He added that the elements involved in the SAR operation were the SAR Alert Unit, TNI/Polri, the Tolitoli Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of the Baolan District Government, the Tuweley Village Government and local residents.

"In order to facilitate the evacuation process, we use water SAR equipment, rubber boats, communication tools, and medical equipment," he said.