1.5-Year-Old Baby Dragged By Flood Stream In Upper Sungai Tengah Dies

Floods hit Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, South Kalimantan on August 17, 2022 (Special/Dia Muhran)

KALSEL - The flood disaster in Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency which occurred during the commemoration of the 77th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) in 2022, caused casualties.

According to information gathered, the baby's death toll on behalf of Baihaki (1.5) was swept away by the flood that hit Hantakan District, Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, South Kalimantan (South Kalimantan).

The toddler died in the current with his mother, Lia (30). Luckily Lia survived.

Hantakan or Tilahan enters the Meratus Mountains area which is the origin of the flood due to the overflow of the Benawa River and continues to flow through the Barabai River.

However, the impact of the flood this time was not as severe as the one in January 2021, especially in villages along the Kali Benawa route, such as Aluan Mati Village, the capital of Hulu Sungai Tengah.

In the 2021 flood disaster, a number of houses and places of worship in Hantakan Sub-district were swept away by the current, and several suspension bridges were damaged in the Batu Benawa District, including three in Aluan Mati Village.

"The decrease in flood water that passes through Aluan Mati Village and its surroundings may be because the current is divided through the Murung River, Batu Benawa District, to Hambawang Beach, South Labuan Amas District to North Labuan Amas District," said Muhran (63), a local resident.

"When the floods occurred in January 2021, the Murung River had not been dredged (widening and deepening) so that the water level at that time entered people's houses, which were built with a stilt system," he continued.

The flood water level of the Benawa River began to decline at around 22.00 WITA on August 17, 2022.